


The Legacy

by MiladyDragon



Series: Dragon-Verse: Future Adventures [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Merlin (TV), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Dragon-Verse, Dragons, Future Fic, M/M, Magic, Mpreg, Reincarnation, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-26 15:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/651936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the dragon, Ianto Jones, is kidnapped, Arthur Pendragon and Merlin Williams-Song of Torchwood investigate.  What they find leads to revelations about the past, and a secret that could bring either happiness for the Harkness-Jones family...or heartbreak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Dragon Big Bang over on LJ. The wonderful art is done by Totally4ryo, who did a fantastic job and I thank her for all her work.

 

 

**_15 November 5101 (Earth Standard Date)_ **

**_Luna University, the Moon_ **

****

“I’d like to thank Professor Ifan Jones for agreeing to give the lecture today,” Dr. Rowena ap Llyn – born Harkness-Jones – spoke from the podium at the front of the lecture hall, her face a combination of serious and pleased.  “Please give Professor Jones a round of applause.”

The packed house did so, as did the students who were attending remotely via the large screens that were mounted on the walls surrounding of the crowded hall.   Ianto – introduced by his current name, Ifan,  at the beginning of the lecture – couldn’t help but smile; when Rowena had talked to him about giving a lecture on dragon history and society, he’d been honoured and yet hesitant. He hadn’t been at all certain that standing up in front of a crowd of students and giving a talk on his people would be a really good idea, since he and Jack had long thought that standing out of the way of history at this point in time would be for the best because it was right in the middle of Jack’s mortal timeline.

Also, there was the idea that no one would actually be interested in hearing him speak about dragons.

Well, he’d been proven wrong when he’d walked into the hall and found the place standing room only.  He’d rolled his eyes at Rowena’s smug expression and had allowed her to introduce him.

Ianto nodded politely, letting a pleased smile appear at the standing ovation he was receiving.  His lecture had gone well indeed, far better than he’d thought it would when Rowena had first approached him about it, several months back.

He thought he might take her to dinner as a ‘thank you’.

Rowena stepped down from the podium to join him as the lecture hall slowly cleared.  She was smiling.  “That was amazing, Tad.” 

Ianto gave her a one-armed hug.  “I’m very glad you convinced me to do this, Rowena.”

“I didn’t think you really would,” his second eldest daughter admitted as he gathered up his data crystals and putting them into his satchel.  “Especially with Dad and all…”

All of their children knew that their father, Jack Harkness, was pretty much confined to Ddraig Llyn for at least the next twenty-five years.  Ianto knew that, in the life of an immortal, it really wasn’t that long.  However, Ianto hated to leave Jack on his own for a protracted time.  His mate did have a tendency to get bored after a while, and the dragon wanted to be around when that happened in order to distract his mate. 

“It was your father who finally convinced me to do this,” Ianto answered.  Together they left the lecture hall, mingling with the crowds of students making their way to their next classes.   “Apparently I was driving him nuts being underfoot all the time.  Personally, I believe this latest pregnancy has his hormones completely out of whack.”  He didn’t add that anything at all seemed to set Jack off, and that his mate was horribly distracted by his own uncertainties.

Rowena laughed.  “Like that doesn’t happen every other time!”

Ianto joined his daughter in laughter.  This was their tenth child in fifteen hundred years – not counting their eldest, Anwyn, who’d been born six hundred years before their twins, Rowena and Cadi – and Ianto was always amazed when it happened.  The dragon rate of procreation had been extremely slow; his own mother had had himself and his sister, Sabrina, nearly two thousand years apart, and that had been considered quick by some.  But then, Jack had been the one carrying the majority of their family, although that hadn’t been Ianto’s intention.  After the blessing they’d received from the Great Dragons had granted Ianto the ability to get pregnant he’d fully intended to share the duty.

It hadn’t worked out that way, though, and Ianto had ended up carrying four of their children compared to Jack’s seven, this time counting Anwyn.  That had included their twins, one of which was walking beside him.  Rowena had made a name for herself as a researcher and instructor there at Luna University while her twin, Cadi, had become an accomplished explorer and pilot, owning her own ship and working for this incarnation of Torchwood.

The Star Dragons.

 Ianto’s family, scattered among the worlds of the Human Empire, fulfilling the prophecy of the Great Dragons. 

He couldn’t have been prouder.

“Do you have classes this evening?” he asked as they approached Rowena’s office.  A discreet metal plate with _Dr. R. ap Llyn, History Department_ engraved on it decorated the wall next to the door.  All of their children had temporarily set aside the Harkness-Jones surname that they’d all been born with in order not to draw any attention to their father and it still bothered Ianto to know that it had to be done for now, and that he’d had to do the same.  They couldn’t afford to have anyone make the connection between a currently mortal man and the person who would become the infamous leader of the Torchwood Institute in the far past.  Anyone with a grudge could very easily change time by keeping the young Jamys Franklinson from becoming the immortal Jack Harkness if they knew the truth.

Rowena ushered him inside.  “I just have a few things to do and then I’m free.”  She set her tablets and data storage units down on her perfectly straightened desk, taking a seat while she booted up her computer.

“Then let me take you out for dinner,” he suggested.  “A new classic Chinese place has opened up in London that I thought we might try.”  He grimaced at the word ‘classic’; he had yet to find a place that made Chinese food the way he remembered it.  He had very fond memories of the Chinese take-outs he used to be able to get.

Rowena grinned.  “Don’t think I didn’t notice that, Tad.  I don’t know why you keep torturing yourself with restaurants you know you’re going to end up hating.”

“Hope springs eternal,” Ianto replied.  “One of these centuries someone’s going to make a decent Kung Pau chicken.”

His daughter rolled her eyes.  “If you say so.”

“That’s the problem with today’s children…no respect for their elders,” Ianto teased.

“I’ll have you know I respect everything about you, except for your need to punish yourself in order to find a good Chinese place.”

“It’s not punishment,” he averred, “it’s a quest, one just as important as those preformed by the ancient Knights of old.”

She raised an eyebrow.  “I wonder, if I asked Arthur that, if he would agree with you.”

Ianto’s first grandson, Arthur Harkness-Jones – who had taken the name Pendragon, after his reincarnated soul-self – currently ran Torchwood, along with his mate, Merlin Williams-Song, the son of the Eleventh Doctor and his wife, River Song…and who was also the reincarnation of the mythical Sorcerer, Merlin Emrys.   “I’m certain he’d go along with his favourite grandfather.”

Rowena laughed.  “If you say so, Tad.”

“If you keep up this disrespect you’ll be paying for dinner!”

His daughter laughed again.  “All right…I’ll finish this and then we’ll go.  Transmat, spell, or shuttle?”

“Transmat, of course.  It’s a perk of being the grandfather of the Director of Torchwood and his Second.”  Ianto was so very proud of his boys, and was glad that Torchwood was in such good hands.  “Did you hear that Merlin was going to be revamping the Vortex Manipulators using some sort of magic to refine the mechanism?” At Rowena’s nod, he went on.  “He got two of them finished, but forgot to bring them on his last trip to Ddraig Llyn.  If he’d remembered, I could have teleported us there.” 

Ianto frowned, remembering that visit.  Merlin hadn’t just forgotten the Manipulators; he and Jack had gotten into a fairly loud row…

“Tad?  Is something wrong?”

He looked up at his daughter. Rowena’s expression was questioning, and Ianto sighed.  “Sorry, it’s just that…well, your Dad is convinced that time has changed, and the last time Merlin was there he tried to get him to look into the timelines to see where the change happened.  There was a bit of an argument about it, actually.”

“Dad and Merlin had a fight?” Rowena sounded incredulous. 

“It was…” Ianto sighed again.  The discussion had been distressing, both for himself and for his grandson’s mate.  “What you don’t realise is that your father didn’t believe in any sort of magic at all when I met him.  He swears that magic didn’t exist.”

His daughter frowned.  “But it does, thanks to Merlin.”

“Exactly.  Which is why Merlin was so upset by a few things that Jack said to him.”

“But Dad wouldn’t purposely upset Merlin!”

“I know that.”  Ianto dragged a hand through his hair, trying to put his thoughts into order.  “But Jack is so convinced that something has changed and he intimated that it was something to do with Merlin.  Merlin didn’t take that very well at all, which I can understand…he’s the Doctor’s son, after all, and he takes Time very seriously.”

Rowena nodded.  “It’s why he’s determined to clean up the Time Agency.”

Ianto had been a witness to one of Merlin’s many rants about the Time Agency and how corrupt it had become.  He’d been content to let them carry on as long as they were actually policing the timelines, but the moment that things changed the sorcerer had been adamant that something had had to be done.   It didn’t help that Jack, while admitting that things had been bad by the time he’d left after having his memory wiped, was still concerned that taking down the Time Agency would be messing with time.  Ianto had pointed out that John Hart had once claimed that the Agency had been disbanded, and Jack had settled a bit, but the dragon’s mate had been more and more antsy about screwing things up the closer to his own time they’d gotten.

 “So Dad is sure that time’s been somehow messed with?” Rowena asked.  “And he bases this on the fact that he doesn’t remember there being any magic in the future?”

Ianto nodded.  “Or dragons, and while there aren’t that many out there yet, the Star Dragons are at least spoken of in most galactic circles.  Your siblings have done a lot of good work out there, and of course there’s Arthur, in his role as Director as Torchwood.”  He chuckled.  “You should have heard your Dad trying to rationalise _me_ when we first met.  His favourite was the ‘alien influence in Earth evolution’ theory.”

Rowena snorted.  “That’s still going on, actually.  One of my colleagues mentioned it when I suggested this seminar on dragons.  There are some out there that are still convinced that dragons are creatures of nature, and not magic.  I laugh every time, since magic is about a natural as it can get.”

“There will always be people who think that, even with the proof of magic in the universe once more.”  Ianto turned sober.  “It took me a long time to get Jack to admit that magic exists.  I think it helped when he was able to turn into a dragon the first time, at our original mating ceremony.  He had no logical way to explain it.”

“Maybe I’m being a bit thick here, Tad, but I don’t get why Dad thinks time has been changed, just because he doesn’t recall something.”

“Jack swears that magic didn’t exist in this time.  He’s convinced that something is wrong, and it’s frankly scaring him.”

He could see it dawning on Rowena.  “He’s afraid that something’s changed time so badly that his younger self won’t follow the path that he did.  That there’s a paradox brewing.”

“Merlin says there isn’t, and I believe him.  He’s got his father’s time sense, and I should think he’d know if something that big was looming.” 

“And Dad’s working himself into a frenzy, which isn’t helping the pregnancy any,” Rowena guessed.

“I’m worried about him,” Ianto admitted.  “I hadn’t intended on taking the seminar when you offered, but he insisted and I didn’t want to argue with him.  Your Dad gets bored easily, being stuck in Ddraig Llyn and with his certainty that something is going to go wrong…he has plenty of time to dwell if he’s not kept busy.” 

“Now I’m sorry I suggested it.”

“No, don’t be.”  He leaned forward, taking her hand in his.  “This was amazing, Rowena.  I enjoyed it, and all of those young people, interested in what I had to say…it was a gift.  A wonderful gift.”

Rowena smiled, blushing slightly.  “With the interest in the Star Dragons, I thought it was time for people to know our history.  And you tell it in a way that makes others hang on your every word.  It’s your passion, Tad, and it’s amazing to see.”

“Our family history is important,” Ianto said.  “We should never forget.  And it’s startling in a way, because I still remember being hunted and feared and being so alone.  To be accepted…all right, they have no idea I’m actually a dragon, but your brothers and sisters are out there, and they’ve never made it a secret of what they are.”  He pulled his hand away, leaning back into his seat.  “Now, get your work done and we’ll talk more at the restaurant.  Your old Tad is hungry.  Public speaking is hard work.”

Rowena laughed.  “No wonder I’m always hungry after my lectures, then.”

 

**********

**_Old London, Earth_ **

 

The transmat dropped them off in the old section of London.  Ianto knew it didn’t look a thing like the 21st Century London he could remember, but then it would only be noticeable to himself and Jack.  Plus, it was impossible to make something resemble something it simply could not be, and London had changed too much in the last three thousand years to go back to the past; from natural disasters to over-building to alien invasions, London could not simply be recreated in its former image.

Still, the air was clean – cleaner than it had been in over a hundred years – and the day had just enough of a chill to be bracing.  Not that Ianto really minded the weather, but he could still appreciate a nearly perfect day.   The sun chased away the coolness until they walked under the coloured awning that marked the entrance to the new restaurant the dragon had wanted to try.  He stood in the way of the door’s automatic eye in order to let Rowena enter first, and then he followed her into the restaurant.

The décor seemed to lean toward Chinese dragons, which made Ianto smile in spite of himself.  He could recall the one time he’d actually met a Chinese dragon, an ancient being who had been a High Priest to the Eastern Sea King Dragon.  He had been enormous, without the wings that Ianto had thought all dragons had, and he’d come to consult with the Water Dragon on an issue that the young dragon had never discovered, although his father had been aware of the visit and had sat in on the actual discussions.  He’d asked his father at the time why the Chinese dragon had been so different, and he’d simply answered that not all humans were the same either, despite being descended from the same line going back to the beginning of time. 

They took a seat at a table near the window, Ianto gallantly holding Rowena’s chair out for her.  She snorted, but took the seat, shaking her head in wonder.  “You are the most old-fashioned person I know, Tad.”

Ianto raised an eyebrow.  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Rowena’s response was interrupted by the waitress appearing at their table with the electronic menu, setting it in the centre within reach of both dragon and daughter.  Ianto greeted her in Mandarin; the woman looked surprised and then delighted, and that led to them speaking for a couple of minutes in rapid-fire Chinese, Ianto learning about her spouse and their two children and how great it was that someone had actually taken the time to learn her language. 

Ianto was glad that he’d decided to take up languages as a hobby when he and Jack had retired from Torchwood. 

Once the waitress had left, they perused the menu, finally settling on what they wanted.  Ianto stood, saying, “I’m going to the mens’.  Can you order me the Kung Pau Chicken?”

“Taking a chance there, Tad?” Rowena teased.

“It’s my destiny, you know,” he answered primly.  “To find a Kung Pau Chicken that meets my expectations.”

Rowena’s laughter followed him toward the colourful sign directing Ianto to the mens’ room.  He grinned, shaking his head, passing their waitress and several other seated customers on the way.  He really didn’t see his older children as much as he wanted, and it was good to be spending time with his second eldest.  They’d all moved on, getting lives of their own, finding mates and raising families and spreading magic into the galaxy. 

He was so proud of each and every one of them.  

Ianto quickly made use of the facilities, and was at the sink washing his hands – there was actual water, instead of the sonic cleansers most places used anymore – when a sudden flash lit up the room.

The dragon didn’t even have time to react when something was pressed against his neck.

Darkness descended.


	2. Chapter 2

 

**_15 November 5101 (Earth Standard Date)_ **

**_Hubworld, Gliese 581g_ **

****

Merlin Williams-Song strode through the corridors of Torchwood Tower, frustration eating at him as he made his way toward the loading area at the base of the tower where his mate was waiting.

Merlin hated being late, but it seemed it was just something that followed him throughout all his reincarnations.  No matter what he did, he was usually late for whatever appointment he might have, and it was the subject of many a joke at his expense.

And so, he was late for the arrival of several artefacts from Skaro that predated the Daleks. 

At least Arthur had called him this time.  There’d been that one time that Arthur had just waited, to see how long it would take Merlin to get there.  He’d ended up waiting almost an hour, and Merlin hadn’t heard the end of it.

Goddesses, he loved Arthur but his mate could be such a _prat_.

He dodged around employees almost recklessly, apologising as he nearly bumped into several people in his rush to get to the loading bay.  Merlin had wanted to be there on time, to meet the transport carrying the priceless artefacts, and to personally transfer them into the Archives.  As Second of Torchwood, he was automatically the Head Archivist, and it was a responsibility he took very seriously.  He’d been doing the job for nearly fifteen hundred years and two regenerations – luckily for him his appearance hadn’t changed all that much each time, much to the confusion of his Dad, the Doctor – and was justifiably proud of the job he’d done.  Even his mate’s Grandtad, the original Head Archivist, had commented on how proud he was of Merlin’s work.   That praise really made it all worthwhile.

Merlin practically skidded around the corner and down the short flight of steps leading to the main loading bay.  The large room at the base of Torchwood Tower was pretty much empty, the last delivery of anything having been two standard days ago. A few crates were all that remained, containing supplies that the Tower needed in order to run properly.

He could see Arthur standing at the end of the bay, his arms crossed over his chest, blond hair almost glowing red in the harsh light of the system’s star, Gliese 581. He wasn’t alone; two others were with him, and as Merlin approached he saw that one was human, the other a Remneth whose red skin practically drank in the lurid sunlight. 

Arthur had a knowing smirk on his face, and it was all Merlin could do not to smack him on the back of the head, much like Arthur had done to him many times in their first life together.  There were times when Merlin felt so strange, remembering every life he’d once led, but he could also draw on all that accumulated knowledge if he needed to.  Sometimes though it was simply overwhelming, and he was glad that Arthur only had to recall the one life previous to his being reincarnated as Arthur Harkness-Jones, the son of Anwyn Harkness-Jones and the grandson of the immortal Jack Harkness and the dragon, Ianto Jones.

It also meant that Arthur Harkness-Jones was only one life away from Arthur Pendragon, prat and Once and Future King, and his very bearing screamed royalty.  It was annoying.

“Sorry I’m late,” he panted, coming to a halt beside Arthur.  “I was working on something and got distracted.”

“That’s fine, Second Williams-Song,” the Remneth answered, smiling.  “Director Pendragon was kind enough to explain.”

Merlin tossed a glare over at Arthur, who simply shrugged it off.  He could imagine just what Arthur had, in fact, explained.  “I’m sure he did,” he said, smiling widely and yet wishing at the same time that he could read his mate’s mind to find out just what was on it.  “Maybe we can get started?”

“Of course,” the Remneth said.

Merlin was handed the shipment’s manifest by the human, and he went over it, making certain it tallied with what he’d been sent two weeks ago.  He then had to juggle both his PDA and the manifest’s pad to get to his communicator, ignoring an amused snort from Arthur as he nearly dropped the PDA on the permacrete floor.  At least the clotpole could have offered to take one of the devices from him!

He called several of his assistants, and together they got to work unloading the transport and moving the crates down to the Torchwood Archives.  Merlin might have enjoyed the excitement of working for Torchwood, but this was what he truly loved: the search for knowledge about other worlds and their history.  It was something he shared with his father and mother, his Aunt Rowena, and his Grandtad Ianto, and he was grateful that he could have all of this history at his fingertips, to figure out what these particular artefacts meant in the scheme of the past and if they could shed some light on the present and the future.

Merlin had a leg up on most historical scholars though, and that was his unique sense of Time.  Certainly it didn’t tell him everything, but he could ‘feel’ the flow of Time around objects and people, and could usually interpret that flow fairly accurately.  He could also see the timelines, if they were important enough, and he could still recall his mother teasing him about cheating on his exams by attempting to see the past events he was studying about first-hand. 

The artefacts were a fascinating mix of Kaled and Thal, and Merlin easily lost himself in the unpacking and cataloguing of what they’d been brought.  Every once in a while he would catch Arthur watching him, and after a while he managed to shoo his mate out of the Archives…or the Hoard, as they’d been called ever since Grandtad Ianto had been in charge.   Merlin was well aware of just how sexy Arthur found him when he was in his element, so to speak…almost was sexy as his mate found it when Merlin used magic.

Despite Merlin’s innate sense of time, he tended to lose track of it when he was doing something he was interested in.   This was why he had no clue just how long he’d been working when his communicator beeped at him.

Merlin cursed in three different languages, and then answered it.  “This had better be good,” he said, using his favorite annoyed sing-song tone to indicate his irritation.

_“Merlin,”_ Arthur’s voice replied, _“you need to come up to my office.”_

“I’m right in the middle of this cataloguing.  Can’t it wait?”

_“No, it can’t.  Merlin…you need to get up here now…please.”_

The sorcerer frowned.  Arthur didn’t say ‘please’ unless it was very serious.  “I’m on my way.”  He shut down his comm. and, turning to his assistants, gave them a few instructions he wanted them to follow.  Then he left the Archives, taking the lift up to the top floor of the tower.

The Director’s office was at the very pinnacle of Torchwood Tower, with a grand view over Gliese City, the red light of the primary coming in from the large picture window staining the wood of the desk and shelves in a cherry tone.  Arthur was standing in front of his desk, leaning back onto the polished surface, when Merlin entered without knocking.  His mate looked up at him as he barged in, and Merlin immediately knew something was horribly wrong.

The person in the visitor’s chair didn’t ease his sudden feeling of worry.  “Aunt Rowena?” he blurted, heading over and taking her hand in his.

Doctor Rowena ap Llyn was Arthur’s aunt, and she’d insisted that Merlin call her Aunt Rowena as well.  She’d been the first of them to choose another surname, dropping the ‘Harkness-Jones’ until they were past their patriarch’s time period.  Arthur had been the second, taking up the old Pendragon family name for the time being.  Anwyn, Arthur’s mother, had also chosen Pendragon, but she hadn’t been happy about it.

Her eyes were slightly red, as if she had been crying, but Aunt Rowena looked determined.  “Merlin,” she greeted him, squeezing his hand.

“Why don’t you tell Merlin what you told me?” Arthur suggested, his own voice rough with unspoken emotion.  Merlin got a good look at his mate, and he could see in Arthur’s face that whatever she’d said had been very bad.

Rowena nodded.  “As I told Arthur, someone has kidnapped Tad.  He’s simply vanished.”

Merlin felt his hearts thump painfully in his chest, and he could understand why his normally strong aunt had been weeping.  “Are you sure?”

“Yes, absolutely.” 

“What happened?” Arthur asked, and Merlin guessed that he hadn’t gotten any sort of explanation yet, waiting for him to arrive to get the full story.

“As you both know,” she began, “Tad was scheduled to give a lecture at Luna University today.  I…I’d been the one to set it up for him.”

Merlin nodded.  Grandtad Ianto had been fairly excited about it, even though their dragon patriarch had been certain no one would show up.

“After the lecture, he suggested that we go out to eat, so we headed toward this new Chinese place in old London.”

“Kung Pau Chicken?”  Arthur asked, raising a single eyebrow in a gesture that was eerily like their Grandtad’s.

Rowena choked out a laugh.  “What else would he order?”

Merlin rolled his eyes.  “He’s been trying to find a decent Kung Pau for centuries.”

“In fact, he’d asked me to order that for him and then he got up to go to the mens’ room.”  Rowena glanced down at her lap.  “He never came back out.”

“There was no way he could have somehow snuck past you?” Arthur asked gently.

“No,” she denied.  “Besides, he wouldn’t have left without telling me.  I tried to call him on his comm. and he didn’t answer.  And, when I went looking for him, I found this on the floor near the sink.”  She shifted just enough to be able to reach into her trouser pocket, and she pulled out the miniaturized earwig transmitter that the dragon favoured. 

Merlin knew then that Grandtad hadn’t left that mens’ room under his own volition.  With Granddad Jack expecting, Ianto would never have let himself go incommunicado like that, and it was very unlike Grandtad to lose his comm. anywhere. 

“I was going to go to Dad,” Rowena went on, putting the communicator into Arthur’s outstretched hand, “but in his condition I didn’t think it would be a good idea until we knew everything we could.  Besides,” she sighed, “Tad told me about how paranoid he’s been lately about his timeline being changed.  I was afraid he’d see this as some other form of proof that he was correct.”

Merlin barely suppressed the grimace that threatened to bloom across his face.  Granddad Jack had been absolutely positive that, somehow, his personal timeline had changed, and that some sort of paradox was imminent.  The sorcerer had searched Time for anything that might be a precursor of such a powerful paradox wave, and there had been nothing.  Yes, he saw the past much better than the future, but certainly he would have felt the gathering storm of a temporal paradox.  He’d meant to ask his father about it the next time he saw him, but the Doctor hadn’t shown his face in centuries.  Merlin thought he was avoiding the time zone because his mother was so prevalent in it, and not in a form anyone could interact with.

There had been a pretty nasty row over it, and Merlin was ashamed to admit that he’d avoided Granddad Jack ever since.  He really hated arguing with anyone…unless it was Arthur, and then their fights more often than not led to vigorous sex.

“I can promise you,” Merlin said, “that there’s nothing that says there’s something wrong with Granddad’s timeline.  I’ve checked.”

“That’s what Tad said.  He also said that Dad is convinced that there is because he didn’t believe in magic for so long, and he would have done if there’d been magic in his time…”

“I don’t know why that’s so,” Arthur answered.  “But we can’t just assume that Grandtad’s kidnapping was a part of some plot to change time.”

“We’re going to find him, Aunt Rowena,” Merlin vowed.  “We’ll find out who took him and make certain we get him back.”

No one could kidnap a member of his family and get away with it.

 

**********

**_Old London, Earth_ **

 

The restaurant where Grandtad Ianto had vanished had been closed by the local law enforcement, after the owner had contacted them about someone being kidnapped from her establishment.  Rowena had said she’d argued against it, but they’d been summoned anyway despite her not wanting to bring attention to just who her dinner partner had been.

It had taken Arthur two words, “Torchwood business,” to have the investigation turned over to the pair of them.  They’d snagged two of their Knights on the way out, and both Leon and Percival had been more than willing to help out once they’d been told what was going on. 

After Arthur had been reincarnated – for the first and last time – there’d suddenly been a spurt of Knights being reborn as well.  They hadn’t all come at once; first had been Lancelot, who’d shown up at Torchwood Tower asking very politely to speak to King Arthur.  He’d brought Guinevere with him, who had taken up the job of being Arthur’s personal assistant, and who had become the actual power behind the throne, as it were.  What Gwen didn’t know about Torchwood operations simply wasn’t worth knowing.

After that, the Knights they’d known back in Camelot had started trickling in.  Gwaine had been the last, and the surprise of his appearance had been that he’d shown up with Arthur’s mother, Anwyn, on his arm.  Barely a year later they’d declared themselves mates, although there hadn’t been a true mating ceremony as yet.  Anwyn, however, had suddenly gained her dragon form, much to her delight, and the only explanation had been a rather cryptic one from the Earth Dragon about finding her heart’s true desire.  Merlin, though, had realised what he’d meant, since Arthur had gained his own dragon form when he and Merlin had declared their own mating.

Merlin had been glad to see their old friends once more, but he always hated looking forward to the time when they’d pass, and leave himself and Arthur behind.  Certainly they inevitably came back and remembered their previous lives, but it was still a wrench to say goodbye.  There was also that niggling doubt that they’d return, and the sorcerer hated that doubt.  It would never go away.

The Doctor had been concerned about the Knights and the constant cycle of rebirths, but in the end he’d had to shrug and put it all down to magic and the pull of destiny.  Merlin wasn’t certain he liked that answer, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.  Plus he enjoyed having his friends back, even though he knew he’d lose them at some point they would come back.

He and Arthur entered the restaurant together, while Leon and Percival took up positions just inside the door.  It all looked very official with Arthur in his red tunic, the golden dragon and honeycomb ‘T’ glittering on the breast, his sword Excalibur on one hip and his sonic blaster on the other.  Merlin had gone completely casual, simply because he didn’t really have a uniform per se, and he didn’t really want one.  His Grandtad Ianto had worn a suit for millennia, after all.  Merlin thought his long leather coat – thank you, Granddad Jack! – was enough of a statement on its own.

The owner, a small Chinese woman who looked like she either wanted to scream at them or weep shamelessly, met them halfway toward the mens’ room.  She was flapping her hands as she approached.  “I told the police that we don’t know anything about that poor Professor,” she spoke even before either Arthur or Merlin could say anything.  “We don’t have any sort of cameras in the mens’ room so there’s nothing we can do to help!” Then she seemed to notice the design on Arthur’s tunic, because she blanched.  “Torchwood?  What does Torchwood have to do with what happened?”

Arthur put on his blandest smile even as Merlin tried to stifle a laugh.  It didn’t feel right finding the woman’s panic funny, but at the same time he just couldn’t help it.  “That’s Torchwood’s business, I’m afraid.  If you could give us access to the scene please?”

_Well, at least he said ‘please’_ , Merlin commented to himself.

The restaurant owner nodded vigorously.  “Go, and hurry up!  I have a business to run!” Then she seemed to realise how that sounded, and she blushed.  “Not that I don’t want to cooperate to find that poor man –“

“We understand.”  Arthur took the smaller woman by both shoulders and gently moved her out of the way.  “The sooner we can get our investigations done the sooner you can reopen.  Now, if you would wait over by my men…?”

She bobbed her head so fast Merlin was surprised she didn’t give herself a soft tissue injury then did as Arthur bade.  Leon gave her a smile he had to have practiced by watching Arthur so many times, it was just that bland.

Arthur headed toward the mens’ room, Merlin on his heels.  The room beyond the door was the basic type of facilities: a single stall, two urinals, and two sinks against the side wall.  There was no window or anything that someone could have used to get the drop on Grandtad Ianto, and Merlin worried his lip as his mind went directly to personal teleport…

But wait.

He frowned as his time sense began itching, and he cast around the small room, trying to find the source.  Arthur must have noticed his distraction because his mate called out his name, but Merlin simply held up a hand while he attempted to discover just what he was feeling.

Arthur called his name again, this time sounding concerned.  Merlin looked up at him, worrying his lip even harder than before.  “I’m sensing something,” he explained.  “I think…I’m pretty sure someone used a Vortex Manipulator in here.”

His mate frowned.  “That would mean a Time Agent took Grandtad.”

There were different types of Manipulator.  Only the Time Agency used the ones that could travel through the Vortex and back in time; the others were simple teleporters.  If Merlin was indeed sensing a time-programmed Manipulator…but why would a Time Agent want to kidnap a Professor of History?  Because Merlin was certain that they would have left Grandtad alone if they’d known his real identity.

“Can you look back enough to see who might have done it?” Arthur asked, his face grim. 

“Should do, yes.”  Merlin had been making noises about shutting down the Agency for a while now; with his special time sense, he knew just how dangerous it was to have a group with so much control over time.   And now, they’d apparently grabbed his Grandtad for some reason they didn’t know as yet. 

“Then what are you waiting for?” Arthur sounded impatient, and Merlin knew it wasn’t directed at him.

Merlin waved Arthur back toward the corner of the room then, once his mate was out of the way, the sorcerer fully opened his time sense.

Surfing the timelines sounded like it should have been a simple process for one who was a part of Time itself, but it really wasn’t.  Pinning down the specific events one was looking for wasn’t even the hardest part; for Merlin that was keeping himself from getting lost in the immensity of the Time Vortex, to concentrate on the one thing he needed the most to see.

It helped that it hadn’t been long since Grandtad Ianto had been taken.  Aunt Rowena had been able to pull rank at Torchwood Central, and had managed to get a priority transmat to Hubworld almost immediately.  That meant it had been mere hours since he’d been kidnapped, and Merlin didn’t have to sort through too much to find what he was looking for.

When he managed to see what exactly had occurred in that room, Merlin knew they were in trouble.

He came out of his trance with a lurch that would have sent him to the tiles if not for Arthur’s strong hand on his elbow.  “Merlin?” His voice was full of concern.

Merlin swallowed hard.  “We need to go and speak to Granddad.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

**_Unknown Time and Unknown Place_ **

****

Ianto opened his eyes, and for a moment thought that he was somewhere completely dark…until he realised that there was something covering his head and obscuring his vision.

His head was throbbing quite spectacularly, and it took all he had not to groan with the pain.  The last thing he could recall was washing his hands in the lavatory of the Chinese restaurant he and Rowena had gone to…something had been pressed against his neck and then, nothing.  He must have been drugged some way was the only answer he could come up with.

He appeared to have been bound to a chair, and he could just feel the metal of the cuffs that were keeping his hands behind him.  He thought they might be durasteel, which meant changing shape would most likely cut his hands off instead of forcing the handcuffs to expand.  He jiggled them just in case, testing to see how tight they were.

“You’re awake a lot sooner than you should be,” a voice said, sounding vaguely amused.  “That and the other physiological differences I managed to detect makes me guess you have some sort of high-gravity race in your family tree somewhere.”

Ianto sagged in relief, recognising the voice instantly.  He was about to yell at his captor that he wasn’t in the mood for any role-playing, but he sensed something wrong almost immediately and stiffened once more.   “What’s going on?” he asked suspiciously, not trusting himself to say anything else.

Whatever it was that had covered his head was removed, and Ianto found himself blinking in the sudden brightness of the overheard lighting.  Once he could see again the dragon could make out his surroundings; he was in what looked like a cheap hotel room, with a double bed covered with a threadbare duvet and scarred fake wood furniture.  A near-subsonic rumble made him think he must have been near a spaceport somewhere. 

But it was captor that drew his immediate attention.

It was Jack.

Only it wasn’t.

Of course Ianto had known his mate’s voice, but the man leaning insouciantly against one of the walls was vaguely different.  One, he looked about a decade younger than his Jack did, and was dressed in leather trousers and waistcoat, with a white, short-sleeved shirt underneath.  He was wearing the ever present wrist strap, but it was also different…it looked newer, less well-used than what Ianto was used to.   His hair was in as close to a military cut as Ianto had ever seen, and his eyes didn’t carry the weight of all the experiences that had coloured his long life.

The fact that this version of his mate wasn’t pregnant was also a big tip-off that something was wrong.

But, the most telling thing was the fact that Ianto wasn’t sensing the tell-tale scratch deep in his hindbrain of the Time Vortex that was the sure sign that his mate was close by.  It was completely missing.

This wasn’t his Jack. 

This was a much younger version of his mate, obviously the one before he’d met the Doctor and had become immortal.  This was the Time Agent Jack, if he wasn’t mistaken.

That, more than anything, scared Ianto.  He’d been a complete stranger to Jack when they’d met all those centuries ago, of that he was certain.  And yet, there was the younger version of Jack, looking at him with a combination of interest and playful flirtiness and something the dragon could not identify. 

It made him think of his mate’s insistence that his timeline had somehow changed.  Ianto was now beginning to wonder if Jack had been right.

“Ifan Jones,” the younger man said, levering himself off the wall and putting his hands in his pockets, “Professor of Earth Medieval History, guest lecturer who had fallen off the radar for the last year and half until just recently, when he gave a lecture on Dragon History at Luna University.  Born on Earth, parents deceased, married to retired Captain-Owner Jack Jones.  You have an extremely private life, Professor Jones.” He pouted, as if upset that he hadn’t figured out anything else.

Ianto listened as his captor reeled out the false identity that he’d been operating under in order to get the education he had.  “You seem to have me at a disadvantage,” the dragon replied, one eyebrow cocking upward.   He needed to get more information, in order to find out where and when he was, and just how far back into Jack’s timeline this version went.  “You know about me, but I don’t know anything about you.”

Younger Jack leered.  “I like it that way.  It makes me more…mysterious.” 

It was all Ianto could do to keep himself from sighing.  “If this is a kidnapping, I’m quite certain my m – husband will be glad to pay whatever you ask to get me back.”  He had to assume this Jack didn’t know his true nature, if his guessing about his family was correct, and he didn’t want to give away that he was in any way related to the Star Dragons.  It would just make things more complicated, and besides Ianto was intending to escape at his first opportunity.  Letting his kidnapper – even a much younger version of his mate – know that particular secret would only make him more wary.  Saying he had a mate instead of a husband would be just the giveaway he didn’t need to make.

Apparently this Jack didn’t catch his near slip-up.  “I’m not actually asking for a ransom,” he answered lightly.  “I’m hoping you could help me.”

Ianto frowned.  “Help you?  You didn’t need to grab me out of the loo for that.  All you had to do was ask.”  Not that he would have agreed; this was hitting too close to home for him, and he was truly afraid that the timeline could be irreparably damaged if he did the wrong thing. 

“I couldn’t take that risk.  This is far too important for me to take no for an answer.”  It was; Ianto could tell by the sudden serious expression that wiped away the leer.  However, it was back in a flash.  “Although, I’m not adverse to mixing business with pleasure…”

“You did catch the part where I had a husband, right?”  There was no way he was going to touch Jack’s younger self, and in fact Ianto felt just a tad creeped out by the idea.

The pout he received was just the same as the one he got when his mate had been somehow thwarted.  “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

Ianto had been a resident of the free-wheeling future long enough to know that wouldn’t be the end of the flirting, and he was prepared for it.  His mate had taught him a great deal about the future even before they’d actually arrived in it, and while Ianto understood many of the sexual norms that took place he did know that, even though a lot of fun was to be had by all, the marital bond was still very highly respected.  There would be flirting yes…but this version of Jack wouldn’t cross that line.

“All right,” Ianto said, “just what do you need my help with?”  He needed to get this back on track.  The sooner he discovered what was going on, the better he would feel.   “And you know my name…what do I call you?”

“You can call me Jamison if you want,” the younger human shrugged. 

Ianto nodded.  It was close to Jack’s real name without giving anything away.  “And I would prefer it if you called me Professor Jones.”  He smiled thinly.  “If this is supposed to be some sort of business transaction.”

Jamison’s smile went vaguely shark-like.  “Fine by me, Professor.”

“I also want an assurance that the person I was eating lunch with, Dr. ap Llyn, will be left alone.  I do apologise, but it’s difficult to trust someone who drugs people up in mens’ rooms and teleports them off to who knows where.”  He could tell that Rowena wasn’t anywhere close, in the same way he knew this wasn’t his mate, by the lack of the vortex energy that had infused Jack’s very being when he became immortal. 

“I don’t have any reason to do anything to your companion,” Jamison answered.  It was a lot easier for Ianto to deal with the man now that he had a name to refer to him by.  It was still difficult to know that this was his Jack without the immortality and betrayal and all the terrible losses he’d suffered, and a very tiny part of him wished he could somehow warn him…

No, he couldn’t.  Ianto wasn’t Merlin or the Doctor, but even he knew that would be catastrophic.  Besides, his Jack had gone through all of that to bring him to Ianto, and the dragon wouldn’t give up his mate for anything in the universe.

“As for what I need you to do,” he went on, “I just need you to authenticate something for me.  That’s all.”

Ianto regarded him closely.  As far as he could tell Jamison was telling the truth, but then Jack had told him all about being a very good conman in his younger days.  It could be that Jamison was playing him in some way, but the dragon knew it would be best to play along.  “Why me?” he did ask.  “Any historian could authenticate an artefact for you.”

“Not this one.”  Jamison pulled what had to be the key to the handcuffs from his waistcoat pocket.   “It’s going to take a very specialised sort of expert for it.”  He walked around to the back of the chair, and Ianto felt him unlock the cuffs…but not before stroking the inside of Ianto’s wrist in a pretty suggestive way.

“Let’s keep to the business at hand,” he answered, bringing his arms – sore from being restrained behind his back – around to the front and rubbing his wrists where the handcuffs had chafed.  

Jamison chuckled throatily.  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” he purred.

The problem was, Ianto knew _exactly_ what he was missing.

He stood, as his kidnapper came around in front once more.  Ianto had to admit that, despite the circumstances he found himself in, he was very intrigued by what Jamison had, and why he thought that only himself could authenticate it.  The younger man motioned behind Ianto, and he turned, immediately spying the black, reinforced metal case that was sitting on the rickety-looking table under the curtained window.

It was about half a meter high, and about half that again in width.  It was sealed with an electronic device that flashed ominously at him as Ianto approached.  His curiosity was getting the better of him, he could admit that to himself, and he had a near-overwhelming desire to see what was so important that he’d been kidnapped for.

There was a beep, and the device – obviously a lock, most likely deadlock-sealing the case – stopped flashing.  Ianto looked back over his shoulder in time to catch Jamison flipping his Vortex Manipulator closed.  He raised an eyebrow, asking silent permission, and the Time Agent nodded once. 

The dragon stepped forward, setting his hands on the top of the case on either side of the lock.  He pulled the hinged lid open, revealing a formed, oval-shaped crevasse within.

What was nestled inside that hole punched the air out of Ianto’s lungs, and it took all he had not to react on the outside, to not tip off Jamison that he knew exactly what this was.

“Where did you get this?” he asked, and he was slightly irritated with himself by the awe in his voice.  He reached one hand toward the object, needing to _touch_ the impossibility that lay within the case.

“Aren’t you supposed to wear some sort of gloves when you handle artefacts?” Jamison asked, and by his tone Ianto knew he’d noticed his slip.

“Do you have any?” he asked sharply, pulling his hand back slightly and not daring to glance in the man’s direction, not wanting to give anything else away.

“No.”

“And you interrupted a meal with a colleague, so I wasn’t prepared.”  Besides, he’d need to lay hands on it to tell if it was viable, still alive.  “You didn’t answer my question…where did you get this?”

“Does it matter?” Jamison asked blithely.

Ianto barely restrained the growl that wanted to escape.  Instead, he used both hands, and slipping them around the bulk of the object he lifted it from its cocoon.  He couldn’t help the gasp this time, as he sensed the life within, just waiting to be called forth.

“I take it that this really is a dragon’s egg?” Jamison demanded, losing all playfulness.

Ianto wanted to deny it.  He wanted to transform and escape and take this precious thing with him back home. 

He couldn’t do either.  There was too much at stake, especially if there were more where this came from.

“There’s no such thing as a dragon’s egg,” he whispered.

“Then what the hell is that?”  His captor sounded angry, and Ianto didn’t want that.

“A majority of legends assume that dragons are lizards, and thus lay eggs,” he explained, tilting the egg in order to see if it had been damaged in any way.  “That’s not true at all; in fact, dragons are something altogether different, not lizard or dinosaur or mammal.  But they birth their young live, so there aren’t any eggs involved.”  He sighed in relief at the sign that the shell was intact.

“Then why are you so interested in it?”

“Because,” Ianto answered, “there are certain magicks that can be used to protect an infant dragon in case of extreme danger.  One of those means putting the baby into a form of suspension within a shell that is near-impossible to break.  The child can remain viable for over a thousand years that way.”  He recalled the day that Merlin had asked about it, when his grandson has told him the story of finding Aithusa and how Kilgharrah had claimed that the shell around the sleeping baby had been an egg.  Understandably Merlin had been confused when Ianto had given birth to a live and wriggling infant…with a little help from a caesarian section, of course.

“In the final days, when dragons were being exterminated by humans,” he went on, “I would have expected there to be more and more eggs found.  But there weren’t, which means to me that either the humans took and hid them when they found them since they wouldn’t have been able to destroy them, or the dragons didn’t have the time or inclination to hide their children.  It was genocide, pure and simple.”  Even after all these millennia, Ianto mourned his lost kin.

“So you’re saying there could be a baby dragon in there?” Jamison asked, sounding excited about the prospect.

“I…don’t know.”  There was; Ianto could sense the life within the shell, but he didn’t want to give too much away to this younger version of his mate.   “It’s been so long since the dragons were killed…surely any baby wouldn’t have survived so long.”  It was a puzzle, that this child had been preserved for all those years.  But it was, and Ianto felt the overwhelming need to get it away from Jamison.

He could trust Jack, but his mate had told him stories of how he’d been when he’d been younger.  The dragon just couldn’t take the risk.

“What if I told you that it really hadn’t been all that long?” Jamison asked shrewdly.

“You went back in the past to get this?” It shouldn’t have surprised Ianto one bit that this was what had occurred, and yet it did.  “How did you know where to look?”  He’d searched; oh, how he’d searched, and he’d never found any sign at all.  How had this Time Agent found something he hadn’t been able to?

“It took me two years of searching for any sort of sign,” Jamison admitted, “but I finally found some cryptic notes among the papers of a 27th Century archaeologist, Bernice Summerfield, about an excavation in what had been the Bavarian Alps that had found what she’d claimed was a dragon’s nest.  It took some extrapolation on my part, but I was finally able to trace the site and go back to when the nest was actually being used.  I found that,” he indicated the egg, “and brought it back to it could be authenticated.  When I heard of your lecture I knew you were the one who could do it.”

Ianto looked at him sharply.  “And why were you searching for dragons’ eggs?”  Something was making him suspicious of the entire story.  Why indeed would someone go back in time, risk a paradox, all to locate a mythical dragon egg?

Jamison shrugged.  “Does it matter?”

“I suppose that means you were either paid or assigned to?” the dragon guessed.

The man’s poker face was good, he gave nothing away.  “As I said…does it matter?  Especially if the baby inside that isn’t alive anymore?”

He had a point, but Ianto wasn’t about to let it lie like that.  “Whatever you’re being paid, I’ll double it.”

Jamison’s eyebrows went up, and a calculating look crossed his face that Ianto felt simply didn’t belong there.  He once again had to remind himself that this man was not his mate and couldn’t be expected to react the same way. “You want it that badly, even if it doesn’t mean anything?”

Ianto shrugged.  “I’m an expert in dragons.  After all, that’s why you kidnapped me.”  He had to protect this egg, to get it back to Ddraig Llyn where Merlin could break the spell holding the child in its magical slumber.  He couldn’t let it get into unscrupulous hands, even if getting past the protective shell would be nearly impossible.  He couldn’t risk it.  “What expert wouldn’t want to have a so-called dragon’s egg in their collection, even if it would never hatch?”

He could tell that Jamison was accepting what he was saying, but at the same time there still was that expression that practically screamed ‘greed!’ at Ianto.  “Let’s say I agree to sell you the egg.  I’d be asking ten thousand for it. I’m not so sure you can afford that on a Professor’s salary.”

That was simply a dip in the bucket of Ianto’s hoard; he hadn’t had to touch it since he’d purchased Ddraig Llyn back in the late 21st Century, except for bits here and there.  “Would you want payment in credits, gold, or gemstones?”

That hadn’t been the answer that Jamison had been expecting, judging from the widening of his eyes in surprise.  “And just where would you get that much in anything?”

Ianto smirked. “Does it matter?”

Jamison chuckled.  “Touché.  I’d want payment up front before I let you go anywhere with that.”

“I think that can be arranged.”  Ianto’s heart was racing, and to his credit his hands were steady as they replaced the egg back into the case.  “I can have the money for you no later than this evening, in whatever denomination you decide.”

“Well,” the younger man said, practically getting up into Ianto’s personal space, “it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”  He flipped open his wrist strap once the case was closed, resetting the deadlock.  “How about we celebrate with a little bit of pleasure now?”

“I don’t think so.”  It took every bit of willpower the dragon had not to step away.  He met those familiar – and yet not – blue eyes squarely.  “And what is your employer going to say about you selling the egg out from under him?”

“Oh, didn’t I say?”  Jamison looked so innocent that butter wouldn’t have melted in his mouth.  “That wasn’t the only egg in the nest I found.”

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**_15 November 5101 (Earth Standard Date)_ **

**_Ddraig Llyn, Earth_ **

****

The slight disorientation from the transmat wore off quickly, and Merlin followed Arthur out of the cubby where they had appeared and into the main room of the Harkness-Jones home in the valley of Ddraig Llyn.

The house had been home for Merlin while he’d been growing up, even more so than the small house his Dad and Mum had taken to raise him in until he was old enough to go travelling.  This huge place was where he’d spent some of the happiest times of his life…and some of the not-so happiest, and Merlin could feel the history within its thick stone walls every time he came back.  The history went back to far beyond the re-building of the former Green Dragon Inn, all the way back to the formation of the valley by ancient glaciers that had carved their way through the mountains surrounding Ddraig Llyn, and even beyond, and to Merlin it felt as if he was being wrapped up within a warm cloak of Time, comforting and familiar.

If the history surrounding the Harkness-Jones residence was a calm cloak, then the patriarch of their clan, Jack Harkness, was the solid foundation which Merlin relied on to keep his feet amidst the eddies and flows of time.  His Dad has once asked him what he saw when he looked at his Granddad Jack, and Merlin had said it was as if looking at a strong boulder in the midst of a river, with Time parting on either side of him, and Jack weathering the pounding of the current as if he was part of the very bedrock of existence.  It wasn’t until later that Merlin had truly understood his Dad’s reasoning behind the question, and the new perspective he’d given his Time Lord father with just that single observation.

It was strange though that his father had never asked him how he saw his Grandtad.   

If Granddad Jack was an unbreakable rock, then Grandtad Ianto was the mighty oak that had grown up around it, thick roots entwining around it and sinking deep into the river itself in order to try to protect him from anything that might hurt his mate.  Grandtad was also the force that kept their family together, the base of the tree on which they all rested and branched out from, to follow their own destinies and yet still be protected within its sheltering limbs.  If either the stone or the tree were removed, then the entire structure would collapse, and Merlin knew that would be the end of his family for all time.

He would fight to his last breath to keep that from happening.

Their Granddad Jack stood from where he’d been sitting on the large sofa that dominated the front room, a hand on his slightly distended stomach.  At six months along he should have looked comfortably settled into this latest pregnancy.

Only he wasn’t.

The closer Jack got to his own home time, the more convinced he’d become that something was wrong with his personal timeline.  There were important things he simply could not remember having happened when he’d been active in this time, and despite Grandtad Ianto’s reassurances and Merlin’s conviction that nothing had changed, his Granddad had become increasingly agitated.  Certainly Merlin could understand why; after all, if things did change then Jack would lose everything he’d gained over his immortal lifetime.  And, if Merlin was willing to fight for his family, he could imagine what Granddad Jack would be willing to do to protect them all.

Rowena was also there, and Merlin was certain she had already filled him in on what had occurred with Ianto judging by the anger and fear in his Granddad’s eyes and despite her saying she hadn’t wanted to do anything until they knew more.  “Have you found out anything?”

Yes, she certainly had, and Merlin was grateful to her for it. 

“That’s why we’re here,” Arthur answered.  “We went by the restaurant and Merlin did a quick scan of the timeline.”

Jack turned to stare at Merlin, and it was all he could do not to flinch under that furious gaze even though it wasn’t him that Granddad was angry with.  “What did you see?” he demanded.

“Dad,” Rowena cut in, “you need to relax.  It’s not good for the baby –“

“I’ll relax when Ianto is back home,” he snapped. 

“Grandfather, sit down…please,” Arthur said, using what Merlin called His Royal Highness voice; it’s the one he used when he wanted to send whatever minions who were in the area to do his bidding.  It didn’t usually work on Jack, but this time it seemed to, if the older man suddenly slumping down onto the sofa was any indication. 

“Sorry,” Jack sighed.  He began rubbing his stomach fretfully.  “It’s just…” He waved a hand toward Merlin.  “What did you see?”

“I saw Grandtad Ianto,” Merlin answered, “he was taken from behind and knocked unconscious by what looked like an injector gun.” 

“But I didn’t see anyone go into the mens’ room after him,” Rowena protested. 

“No, that’s because they used a Vortex Manipulator to get in.”

Jack’s face went blank.  “It was a Time Agent?”

“But the Time Agency doesn’t go against Torchwood,” Rowena argued.

“Aunt Rowena,” Arthur said gently, “Grandtad wasn’t travelling as Ianto Jones, the Dragon of Torchwood.  He was Ifan Jones, Professor of Medieval History and lecturer.  We’re sure the agent didn’t have a clue as to whom he was kidnapping.”

Jack was regarding them both closely.  “Why haven’t you gone to the Time Agency and demanded to know where he is then?  Or at least the agent’s current designation?”

“That’s our next step,” Arthur assured him.  “But we needed to come here first, because there’s something about this agent you need to know.”

Granddad Jack stiffened.  “You think I know him.”  It wasn’t a question.

“Actually,” Merlin replied, “we know you know him.”  He said a quick prayer to the Great Dragons that Jack would take the news halfway well.  “It was you, Granddad.  You were the Time Agent that kidnapped Grandtad.”

Jack went horribly pale, and Merlin swore he stopped breathing.  “That’s not possible,” he whispered. 

“I’m sorry, but I know what I saw, and it was you.”  He really hated being the bearer of news like this, especially with Granddad Jack being in such a state over his timeline.   This could very well send him over the edge.

And it did.

“I told you,” Jack growled, his face going from white to red in no time flat.  “I told you something was wrong with my personal timeline!  Now we have proof, because I’m quite sure I would remember kidnapping my own mate!”

“But you don’t,” Arthur said, his voice pitched now into a tone that he’d often used to talk down desperate criminals.  “There has to be a reason for that, Grandfather…one that you haven’t considered yet.”

“I promise you,” Merlin was practically pleading, “there’s absolutely nothing wrong with your timeline.  I would know definitely if there were.”  He took great pride in his abilities, and it hurt every time Jack intimated that he didn’t know what he was doing.   Yes, he knew Granddad didn’t mean anything really by it, but it still bothered him.  “Or better yet…Dad would be here himself, demanding to know what was going on.” Which was very true.  He’d seen his Dad go all Oncoming Storm for fewer reasons than a ganked-up timeline.  And one having to do with Jack Harkness…well, Merlin didn’t want to see his Dad react to _that_.

Jack chewed his lip, looking thoughtful.  “All right, I didn’t consider the Doctor.  But then how do we explain…” His voice faded out, and a dawning look of comprehension lit his face.  “Of course!  I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before...”  He shook his head.  “But that still doesn’t explain why I don’t recall anything about magic or the Star Dragons…”

“What?” Merlin asked impatiently.  He felt the sudden urge to dance on the balls of his feet but refrained.

“When I was with the Time Agency,” Jack began, “something happened and I had two years of my memory wiped out.  It was the reason I finally went rogue and ended up meeting the Doctor.  But as I said it doesn’t explain other things missing from my memory.”

Merlin couldn’t help but get furious about the news.  He’d always thought the Time Agency acted in a high-handed manner, and here was proof.  He was convinced it was only the fact that Torchwood needed to exist that the Agency had not already attempted to change time in order to cut Torchwood out of the big picture.  But that didn’t stop them from interfering in ways that could be detrimental, and in fact his Dad had had to fix a couple of things they’d messed up.  The Time Agency might have begun as a good thing, but it had become corrupt over the hundreds of years it had been around. 

It was time to shut it down, Merlin thought, especially after what they must have done to his Granddad. 

Arthur was nibbling his thumbnail in thought.  “I believe we can assume the reason you don’t remember kidnapping Grandtad was that it occurred doing those two years you had removed.”

“But as I said, it doesn’t explain why I came out of it not believing in magic or dragons.”

“Maybe they mucked about more than you knew,” Rowena said.  Her eyes had gone into their dragon aspect out of sheer rage.  “They could have damaged you beyond repair, Dad.”

Jack reached up and took her hand, tugging her down onto the sofa next to him.  “But they didn’t,” he soothed her.  He then looked up at Merlin.  “I’m sorry, I’ve blamed you and it wasn’t anything you did –“

He was glad to hear the apology, but Merlin shrugged it away.  “You’ve been under a lot of stress, Granddad.  It’s fine.”

“Will you let me admit my mistake and get it over with?” Jack rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

Merlin grinned.  “Sure, Granddad.”

“Thank you.”  Jack went back to being serious.  “So…Time Agency?”

Arthur nodded.  “We need to know what your younger self wanted Grandtad for.”

Rowena looked at each of them in turn.  “Do we call it a coincidence that they went took Tad after his lecture on dragons?”

“Actually, I think that’s something we can’t rule out,” Arthur answered.   “It’s time Merlin and I paid a visit to the Agency’s director.”

“Yeah, Arthur hasn’t rattled his chain in ages,” Merlin smirked.

Arthur shrugged.  “What can I say?  I have to have my entertainment some way, and Merlin is just too boring.”

“You didn’t say that last night!”

“Boys,” Jack cut in, shaking his head.  “You’re about as bad as me and your Grandtad.”

Rowena groaned and hid her face in her hands.  “Don’t you two have work to do?”

“Yes, Aunt Rowena,” Merlin answered.   He had to admit, he was looking forward to this.

Confronting the Time Agency was way overdue.

 

**********

**_New New York, Earth_ **

 

One of the many things Merlin loved watching his mate do was taking down petty bureaucrats by at least a peg or two.

Juno Bayl was a handsome man, who’d come up through the ranks of the Time Agency by dint of hard work and not a little graft, and Torchwood had had to deal with him several times in the past.  Merlin flat out didn’t like him, and had done almost from the moment he’d met the man.  In fact, he reminded him very much of Uther Pendragon – not that he’d ever say that to Arthur – except that, at least, Uther had cared about his people, albeit in an overbearing, despotic way.  Bayl didn’t much care about anyone, but he had that ruthlessness that had made Uther a much-feared King.

Arthur had decided on a direct approach, which meant he and Merlin barged into the man’s office, overrunning a protesting personal assistant and at least four security guards that hadn’t stood a chance against Merlin’s magic and some judicious wielding of Excalibur.  Yes, a sword was extremely old-fashioned, but sometimes the ancient ways were best.

Arthur had also brought a contingent of Knights with them, and they were impressive in their own right in their red tunics and overabundance of weaponry.  Merlin couldn’t help but be in awe of them, and grateful that the time had passed where he wasn’t used as a practice dummy anymore.  Thank the Gods and Goddesses and Dragons those days were long gone, because when he thought back on it, it was a sheer miracle that he hadn’t used magic on them during those sessions in a simple fit of pique.

They could have used the new Vortex Manipulators that Merlin had adapted using his magic, but Arthur had vetoed the idea, wanting to make a suitably noticeable entrance.  Merlin knew that his mate had a purpose in mind in doing it this way: to seed as much intimidation as possible, and to give the Time Agency notice that Torchwood could go anywhere it chose.  It was a continuation of Jack Harkness’ tenure as Torchwood Director, one that Arthur wholeheartedly agreed with.

Merlin enjoyed the entrance in spite of himself. 

Juno Bayl was awaiting them as they strode into the office as if they owned the place.  Of course there had been plenty of warning of their approach, and so Bayl was standing and managing to look somewhat blasé about the whole thing. 

“You could have just called for an appointment,” he drawled.

 Arthur approached him, stopping just in front of the monstrosity of the desk that took up most of the office and framed the picture window that looked out over the megacity beyond.   “I prefer to come unannounced.”

“And yet I knew you were in the building.  Was it necessary to station your bodyguard on every floor?”

“My Knights are simply making certain no one tries to kick us out before we’re done.”

“Your Knights…of course, Your Majesty.”  Bayl’s eyes were glittering with laughter.

Arthur smirked.  “As you’re well aware, I prefer Director.  Although if you believe in all those stories about the Once and Future King, then of course you’re welcome to call me that if you wish.”

“You’re the one calling himself Arthur Pendragon.  Should I also mention that your Second,” Bayl leered at Merlin, who felt slimy because of it, “is named Merlin?”

Merlin grinned.  “I can’t help what my parents named me.”  He didn’t think it would go over well if he told the truth and said that he’d chosen the name for himself on his second birthday, as he’d begun to digest the returning memories of his previous lives.

Not many knew that Arthur Harkness-Jones was really the reincarnation of Arthur Pendragon, and as such could claim the name.  When he and Merlin had decided to take over Torchwood, they’d discussed it and Arthur, while very proud of his current family, had felt that with such a position of Director being well-known, that it would be for the best that he set aside the name he’d been born with in this lifetime and take up the ancient one he’d died with.  They’d both knew there would come a time when Arthur’s birth name would have to be hidden, and it had made sense to step into the spotlight with a pseudonym already in place.  Of course, it had caused all sorts of problems with the then-Emperor of the Human Empire thinking that the Once and Future King would be after his throne, but Arthur had only wanted Torchwood.  He’d done much more good being the Director than he would have as Emperor.

“This isn’t relevant,” Arthur replied, the smirk vanishing.  “I’m here on official Torchwood business.”

“And what business does Torchwood have with the Time Agency?” Bayl said, equally coolly.

“We want to know the current whereabouts of Agent Boe.”

There was a strange flicker in Bayl’s eyes, but he covered it well.  “And why do you want to know that?”

Arthur stood even straighter, going for what Merlin called the Royal Looming Posture.  “Because he’s kidnapped Ifan Jones, who happens to be a Professor of Earth History lecturing at Luna University.”

“How do you know that?”  Now Bayl’s eyes went speculative, and Merlin got the feeling that they’d just handed the man a piece of a puzzle that neither he nor Arthur could see.

Merlin simply waggled his fingers in Bayl’s direction.  “Magic.”

“I see.”  Bayl leaned back in his chair, not appearing at all intimidated by Arthur at all.  “As of this moment, I have no idea where Agent Boe is.  He’s been on long-term assignment.”  He snorted.  “I don’t see how the kidnapping of some professor has anything to do with Torchwood.”

“I thought you might say that.”  Arthur smiled like some sort of overly toothy predator.  “Then perhaps you aren’t aware that Professor Ifan Jones was simply an alias for Ianto Jones, the Dragon of Torchwood?”

Bayl went as white as a sheet at that proclamation.   “You’re lying.”

“You just wish I were, because it would save you a load of trouble in the long run if I was.”

Of course the Time Agency was aware of Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones, and had made it a mandate of the Agency not to interfere with them in any way, especially in the past.  Torchwood was completely off-limits to any sort of tampering, out of fear of screwing up time.  They had no idea that Jack Harkness was their Agent Boe, however, and the entire family wanted it kept that way.

“Now,” Arthur went on, “you’re very aware of just how dangerous it is to mess with Torchwood, so I can only assume this has been a terrible mistake.  So, the sooner you tell us where your agent is and what his assignment is, the sooner we get Second Jones back, safe and sound.”

Oh, Merlin loved watching Arthur at work. It really was a thing of beauty.

But it was time for him to step in.  “And, if you decide you don’t want to cooperate, I’m quite certain the Imperial Council will be more than happy to hear about this incident.”  Merlin didn’t add that he was going to use it as evidence anyway, since the Emperor took a dim view of anyone kidnapping a citizen, especially one as prestigious as his Grandtad Ianto.

Bayl glanced from Arthur to Merlin, and then back.  He had to know he had backed himself into a corner, and Merlin was hoping that the man would see sense and tell them just what Granddad Jack’s earlier self was up to. 

The silence stretched on, and just when Merlin was starting to get a bit antsy just standing there, Bayl finally spoke.

“All right,” he sighed, “I see I don’t have a choice.”

“Not really, no,” Arthur responded.

Bayl licked his lips nervously.  “I tasked Agent Boe to look for a lever against Torchwood and all the power that you’ve gained, what with magic and the Star Dragons.”

Merlin frowned.  They really should have been expecting this, for Bayl to make some sort of move against them.  It had been obvious that he’d chafed under Torchwood’s oversight for a long time. 

“And just what sort of leverage did you think he would find?” Arthur asked, his voice in that deadly-soft tone that always sent a shiver down Merlin’s spine and made him want to bend his mate over the nearest flat surface.

“Dragon eggs,” Bayl answered.  “I sent him to try to find a source of dragon eggs.”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

**_Circa 1000 CE_ **

**_Bavarian Alps, Earth_ **

****

The disorientation of the time jump faded quickly, and Ianto found himself on a rocky outcrop overlooking a snow-filled valley.  The sun was high, glittering off the peaks that surrounded the valley, and he was struck that this place was much like Ddraig Llyn had once been before the climate had changed just enough to push the glacier on Pedair Dreigiau almost into non-existence.   It was peaceful, and Ianto couldn’t help but smile.

The winter wind cut through his jacket but he didn’t notice the cold.  Jamison, however, was shivering in the depths of a heavy coat made out of a wool-like material, and he was looking at Ianto as if waiting for him to start complaining.

He simply shrugged.  “The weather doesn’t bother me,” he answered the unspoken question.

“Must be nice,” came the grumbled reply.  “C’mon, let’s get this over with.” 

Jamison spun on his heel and headed into the cave that opened up onto the ledge they’d appeared on.  A light appeared once they were inside, and Ianto followed this younger version of his mate deep into the cave, looking around in honest curiosity and wondering if the dragons who had left their children there had done it because of the sheer inaccessibility of the place.

When Jamison had claimed that there were more eggs, Ianto had had no choice but to make a bid on them as well.  The Time Agent had claimed there were five in total, and the dragon had offered the same price for the others…20,000 apiece.  It wasn’t as if it would bankrupt him to pay for the return of his people’s children.

Jamison had been shocked at the offer, but he’d accepted.  Of course Ianto had demanded to retrieve the other eggs, and the younger man had agreed, although he’d insisted they leave the one egg in the present, for safety reasons.  Jamison had arranged to have the case locked away within the hotel safe, and then had offered to take Ianto back to the cave where he’d managed to track down the eggs.

Ianto could tell that Jamison wasn’t sure about trusting him with paying for the eggs, but then Ianto didn’t trust Jamison, either.  He’d heard enough stories of his mate’s past misbehaviour and had decided it would be better to treat him much like Ianto had with John Hart…keeping him in front and not letting him near him.  At this point the only thing he could trust in this situation was Jamison’s greed, which had been evident the moment Ianto had made his offers on the eggs.  It was how the dragon had known that his money wouldn’t be turned down; he just had to make certain that he wouldn’t be betrayed after he’d made the payment.

The cave was frigid, but Ianto didn’t care as he accompanied Jamison deeper into the Earth.  He could actually feel some of the magic left in the surrounding stone, and wondered if it had been laid down by the parents of the dragon children as a protection or if this was some extension of the Earth Dragon’s influence.  He reached out a bare hand and stroked the rock, not realising that he was smiling.  Dragons were creatures of the world, and always would be. 

The exception to that were the Star Dragons.  They somehow were missing the imperative to come back to their home after so long being gone, and Ianto was glad of it.  Sometimes he wondered what would happen when, in the very far future, the Earth went into its final death.   Would the imperative come to him and would he die from it?  Would he even be alive that far from now?  He certainly hoped so, unless Jack had also gone into the beyond as well.  Ianto knew that he would not outlive his mate, and he wouldn’t want to, either.

The cave suddenly opened up into an immense cavern, and Ianto knew instinctively that dragons had, indeed, dwelled within its lofty confines.  His better-than-human dragon vision could make out what had once been a large firepit in the centre of the space, the stone blackened by the intense blazes that dragons enjoyed.  There were also the frost-covered remains of human-sized furnishings, and several ragged piles of once-bright fabrics that had to have been the various nests of the family that had once lived and loved there.

Ianto felt the sadness of that abandoned home keenly.  Who had been the dragons that had once been there?  What had been their colours, or their affiliations?  What had been their clan name?  So many questions…and he would never get the answers to them.  They had been lost in time, and to the swords and spears of the humans.

And yet, they had managed to protect their children from whatever threat had come upon them.  Ianto wanted nothing more than to save those babies, to take them home and make them a part of his family.  They would need care, and he knew his own children and grandchildren would welcome them with open arms. 

These sleeping babies needed to be saved.

“They’re over here.”  Jamison’s voice was hushed, as if he recognized the sanctity of the cavern.  He was standing at an opening in the back of the cave, and Ianto joined him, squinting into the small cubby that had been formed within the living stone.

Within were four more eggs, just as Jamison had claimed.

His caution about his companion was lost as Ianto gazed upon the last of his people, secreted away from the human race.  “You said you managed to track them using the notes of an archaeologist?” he asked as he practically wriggled into the space in order to get a closer look at the nest.  The musty and faded blankets that had been tucked around the eggs showed a level of care that meant the family that had left them there must have had some sort of forewarning that something was going to happen, and yet had intended on returning.  Ianto gently dusted the mouldering fabric aside, and then he reached for the closest egg, needing to see if it was intact.

“Yeah, and it was sheer luck that I found those,” Jamison answered.  “They’d been in some back room of the Braxiatel Collection, just gathering dust.”

“You broke into the Braxiatel Collection?” the dragon asked, amazed at his younger companion’s sheer balls at doing so.  The Braxiatel Collection was one of the most closely-guarded Archives anywhere, and anytime.  Ianto was a member, but it had taken sponsorship by the Doctor in order to be asked even though, at the time, he’d been one of the galaxy’s foremost Archivists for at least three hundred years.  It was supposed to be impossible to get inside the Collection without being a member.

“The archaeologist, Professor Summerfield, had been a member of staff at one point,” Jamison said.   “It made sense that they’d be keeping her papers, and I have to admit that seeing them being ignored…well, it had been fairly simple, actually.  Makes me wonder if they even know they’re still missing.”

“If I offer to buy the papers, would you part with them as well?”  Anything that had to do with dragons was something that Ianto wanted to get his hands on.

Jamison shrugged.  “Sure, why not?  It’s not like I’ll be using them again once this lot is gone.”

Ianto carefully inspected each egg, and to his joy each and every one of them was undamaged.  He could sense the children within them as a faint and sleeping presence within that part of his mind that was dragon constantly, in the place where the Earth Dragon’s song sounded for all of eternity.  These poor babies would never see their parents again, but if Ianto had any say in the matter they would each be raised by his own clan, who would love and nurture each and every one.  They were precious, and would be treated as such.  They would always have a home within Ddraig Llyn.

“So,” Jamison broke into Ianto’s quiet celebration, “is everything in order?”

“Indeed,” the dragon answered, creeping out of the tiny cubby.  “You have more than earned your money.”

“Great.” The Time Agent rubbed his hands together excitedly.  “Then let’s get these back to the future, and we’ll discuss terms.  Although I should have guessed earlier that you were more than you appeared, Professor Jones.”

Ianto cocked his head, eyes narrowed.  He knew he hadn’t been exactly subtle about his dragon knowledge, but he was curious as to just what Jamison meant.  Dragon…Torchwood…either one would have been a very valid guess.  “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, Mr. Jamison.”

“I mean,” the Time Agent said, getting right up into Ianto’s personal space, and the dragon had to keep from backing away even as uncomfortable as it made him to have this younger version of his mate get that close, “that I had no idea I was kidnapping a Star Dragon until I saw you with those eggs.  The look on your face as you were examining them…yeah, you definitely have more than a professorial interest in their survival.”

Ianto chuckled, shaking his head.  “I can assure you, I’m not a Star Dragon.”  And technically, he wasn’t…he was too settled into the Earth to ever be one.

It was Jamison’s turn to frown.  “There’s no reason to deny it –“

“Certainly there is.  I’m not a Star Dragon.”  Ianto sighed.  “Didn’t you pay attention during my lecture?”

“I did, but I don’t see how that applies here…”

“Did you hear the young lady asking me what makes a Star Dragon, based on my own studies of the subject?”  Ianto hadn’t been at all surprised that the question had come up.  The Star Dragons, while still few, were quickly gaining a reputation for being powerful, wise beings.  It didn’t hurt that the rather high-profile Director of Torchwood was one as well. 

“Yes, I did.  But I fail to see the relevance.”

“Star Dragons are not connected to just one planet,” Ianto explained.  “They are of the stars, and are a relatively new race of beings.  They would have no knowledge of the more ancient race of dragons that had lived on the Earth, unless it was taught to them.”  And Ianto made absolutely certain that every one of his children knew the ancestry of their family.  Some had been more interested than others, but they all had a very basic education in dragon history.  “None of them would have any clue as to what these eggs are.  They have no context.  So you’re quite mistaken about me.  I am sorry.”  He wasn’t really, but he felt the need to say it.

Jamison looked put out that his assumption had been wrong, and Ianto didn’t feel the need to continue with the conversation.  He wanted to get these four eggs back to the future, and back home, where they would be safe.  He would protect these children with his life until they were back in Ddraig Llyn.

They had brought two more cases with them, and they carefully put the eggs within, two to each case.  Once Ianto had made sure that they were secure, they made their way back down the way they’d come, through the cave and toward the light heralding the entrance to the nest.  Ianto felt buoyed by the discovery of the eggs.  He wasn’t concerned about paradoxes; according to Jamison the nest had been found abandoned, which meant that the eggs had to have been removed by the time the archaeologist who’d discovered the place had arrived.

If he’d had to guess the eggs had been there for at least one hundred years, alone and cold high up on their mountain home.   They would have remained there until the children within them had died in their magic-induced sleep if Jamison hadn’t been sent on this so-called quest for dragon eggs.  Ianto had to wonder just who had sent him; the man hadn’t been forthcoming about that, although he’d been certain that there was no way his employer would know he hadn’t found anything at this point.  The dragon wanted to believe him, but he couldn’t.  Even though he hadn’t admitted it, his future mate was a Time Agent, and Ianto had to assume that this was before Jack had gone rogue, that he was actually on assignment from the Agency.  Why they would want to get their hands on these eggs, Ianto didn’t know, unless it was to get something to keep Arthur and Merlin in check.  Even though he and Jack weren’t in Torchwood any longer, they did know what was going on. 

Merlin had been advocating coming down hard on the Time Agency, and had amassed evidence against them and their Director, Juno Bayl.  But Jack had held him back, and their grandson had agreed, knowing it wasn’t yet time to break up the Agency for good.  This could easily have been a way to prevent that, and to make certain that Bayl stayed in power. 

Or – and this was just as likely – Jamison had taken on a private assignment.  Jack had said they often would, to make extra money that wasn’t accountable to the various taxing agencies.  But Ianto doubted that the Time Agency would have let one of their own go off on another job for the two years Jamison had claimed he’d been searching.  Of course, there was time travelling involved, so who knew?  Ianto wasn’t at all knowledgeable in how the Agency kept track of their agents.

 Seconds later, he found out the answer to that.

Emerging from the cave, Ianto and Jamison came face-to-face with half-a-dozen people, all along the side of the mountain, dressed for the severe weather and aiming various types of weapons in their direction.

“Agent Boe!” an amplified voice shouted over the wind, “you have been ordered back to Agency Headquarters for an enquiry into your recent activities.  Come with us or face the consequences!”

Ianto heard Jamison – Agent Boe – curse behind him.  “I’m on an assignment for Director Bayl,” he shouted back.  “You need to check with him!”

Well, _that_ theory had just been proved. 

He turned to look at his companion.  “Director Bayl?  Really?”

Jamison shrugged.  “What can I say?  Your deal was better than his.”

“Director Bayl was the one who sent us after you,” was the response.  “Set the cases down and step away from your companion.”

“Perhaps I should have said,” Ianto replied, “that my lunch companion was an _actual_ Star Dragon?  Chances are she went straight to Torchwood after you kidnapped me.”  He was hoping that no one had broken his own cover.  That would have been _really_ awkward.

“Now you tell me,” Jamison grumbled.  He did as the voice commanded, setting the case down and stepping as far away from Ianto as he could, which wasn’t far considering the size of the ledge they were on.

“You set yours down as well, Second Jones,” the voice ordered. 

Well, so much for that.

“Excuse me…Second Jones?” Jamison demanded angrily.

Ianto shrugged.  “You didn’t tell me you were working for the Time Agency.”

The younger man looked gobsmacked.  “But there was only one Second Jones…”  When he realised just who Ianto was, he went pale, which was a real trick considering the freezing weather.  “I fucking kidnapped the legendary Torchwood Dragon?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Which is how you knew so much, about the eggs, and the magic…everything!  And here I thought you were a Star Dragon!”

“Nope.   Just a regular, run-of-the-mill dragon, sorry.”  Once again, he really wasn’t, but it sounded nice, and if there was one thing Ianto Jones was, it was polite.

“Put the case down, Jones!” the voice ordered once more.

Ianto turned his gaze toward the surrounding Agents.  “If you know who I am and what’s in these cases, then you know you’re going to have to go over my dead body to get them.”

“We have our orders to take the eggs into Time Agency custody,” was the response.  “Stand down, and you will not be harmed.”

“I don’t know what you intend on doing, Agent Jamison,” Ianto said, “but I would suggest you vacate the area.  It’s about to get messy.”

With those words, Ianto triggered his change.

With a roar the dragon sat up on his haunches, wings mantling in challenge.  There was no way he would let these men take the children – _his_ children, even though there was no blood shared between them – anywhere.    He’d been stating a fact when he’d said he would protect the eggs with his life, and that was what he fully intended on doing.

The dragon sent a gout of flame back along the mountainside, scattering the agents and melting the snow, causing a small flow of mud to trickle down toward the valley floor.  He breathed once more, this time the fire catching one of the agents and setting their clothing alight, the man’s screaming echoing around the valley walls.

That seemed to have been the signal to open fire.

The agents were using sonic weapons.  While they really wouldn’t do any permanent damage to diamond-hard dragonscale, the heat of the concentrated sound beams burned, and the dragon roared out the pain he was feeling as he spoke a single Word of Power, one that Merlin had taught him, and three of the agents were slammed backward against the granite of the mountain.  One of them slid downward, unable to catch himself as he fell toward the ground.

A sharp, piercing agony in his left wing caused the dragon to scream, and he managed to glance at the source of the pain; a large, metallic hook with three wicked barbs had punctured the delicate membrane, and was tearing the thin leather of the wing nearly down to the joint.  One of the agents was lowering a strange-looking launcher-type weapon, smirking in satisfaction.

The dragon’s fire streamed out again, and the agent’s smirk was the last thing he saw as the body charred to ash.

The ululating cry of rage mixed with anguish seemed to spur something in the remaining agents.  The two that had been knocked aside by the Word of Power were back on their feet, their sonic blasters pointed right at the dragon.  The last one had yet to be injured, and was holding another of the projectile weapons that had fired the hook tearing his wing.  The dragon knew he was badly injured, and there would be no way for him to fly out of range of another of the hooks.  Not that he would; if there was a chance that Jamison was still in the area with the eggs then he would keep these agents away from them. 

But one of the agents up on the mountain went down, and the dragon glanced over to see Jamison, his own sonic blaster out and aimed, taking down a second man with a quick movement of his hand.  “I can’t let you have all the fun!” he shouted with a devil-may-care grin on his face, and it made the dragon want his mate by his side more in that moment than at any time he could recall. 

The third agent, though, was still standing.

The dragon barely heard the puff of expelled air, but he knew that the hook weapon had been fired.  Not even considering the danger, the dragon whipped around, putting himself between Jamison and the flying piece of metal.

Three barbed hooks extended from the weapon, and the dragon knew he couldn’t dodge in time…

The hook mysteriously disintegrated.

The dragon gasped, eyes turning upward to see a magnificent red dragon arching toward the ledge, a black-clad rider on its back, one hand outstretched. 

He huffed out a joyful laugh before the pain in his injured wing became too much, and he sank to the cold stone, for one of the very few times in his long life feeling the iciness as it bit into the wound and the scales that had been scorched by the sonic blasters.

The dragon closed his eyes.  He didn’t have the strength to keep them open.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

**_15 November 5101 (Earth Standard Date)_ **

**_New New York_ **

****

Merlin couldn’t help but laugh at Bayl’s announcement.  “You’re kidding, right?”

Juno Bayl looked angry at Merlin’s ridicule.  “If we could locate at least one, we knew we could use it to keep you out of the Time Agency’s business.  Torchwood is much too high-and-mighty and needs to be knocked back a few.  We’re tired of you interfering in things that don’t concern you.”

He was serious.  Merlin wanted to laugh again, but didn’t.  Of course he knew the truth about what dragons’ eggs actually were, after asking Grandtad Ianto about them when it was obvious that dragons didn’t, in fact, lay eggs at all.  The explanation had punctured the last of Kilgharrah’s lies, although Merlin couldn’t blame the old dragon for wanting to protect his people.  There were times when Merlin wished he could go back in time just to tell Kilgharrah that he understood, and that there were no hard feelings about the endless riddles and obfuscations.  It wasn’t as if Merlin could actually point fingers, after all; he’d hidden his true nature from Arthur for years, until his lover had finally pinned the sorcerer down quite literally and demanded to know just when Merlin had planned on telling him about his magic.  To say that Merlin had been shocked that Arthur had known was a complete and utter understatement.

But Merlin did recall that night that Aithusa had been released from his egg, and the sheer joy he’d felt when the tiny, white dragon had emerged.  It had been a glorious time, a time of hope and destiny and Merlin had rejoiced.

Then the memory of poor, cursed Aithusa, in Morgana’s thrall, came back to haunt him, and he mourned once more for his dragon friend.

Of course, there was the irony of sending the Agent who would become Jack Harkness, the patriarch of the Star Dragons, out after dragon eggs and it made Merlin want to laugh all over again.

“Director Bayl,” Arthur said, not bothering to hide the ridicule from his tone, “are you seriously telling us that you sent an agent of yours after something that doesn’t exist?”

An expression of doubt crossed Bayl’s face, but it smoothed out quickly and was replaced by disdain. “Of course dragons lay eggs.  It’s in every myth told about dragons!”

Merlin snorted.  “Sure, and next you’ll believe that dragons were actually spawns of the Judeo-Christian devil, sent among men to eat their virginal brides.  That’s in the myths, too.”

“I don’t lay eggs,” Arthur commented, leaning back from his loom over Bayl’s desk, his arms crossed over his chest.  Merlin could tell he was barely keeping himself from laughing out loud.

“I should hope not!” Merlin exclaimed.  “Although you do take after Granddad in the male pregnancy department –“

“Shut up, Merlin,” his mate snapped, although without any heat in the words.  They’d discussed having children, and had decided not to, since Arthur didn’t feel it was dignified that the Director of Torchwood should run around as large as a shuttlecraft.

Merlin was still hoping that he would, one day, change his mind.  He couldn’t think of anything more erotic than having Arthur carry his child.  Well, eternity was a long time…

“Dragons are birthed live,” Arthur went on.  “I know…I was present when a couple of my nephews and nieces were born, and it’s quite gross and disgusting.”

“The singing is quite nice though,” Merlin added.

He was enjoying the look on Bayl’s face as what they were saying was being digested.  However, Merlin couldn’t help but wonder if the man had been onto something.

He knew the truth of dragon eggs, and there had been times over the centuries that Merlin wondered if there had been dragons out there who had put their children into the magical stasis that was the true nature of the eggs.  Could there have been babies out there, waiting to be found?

Grandtad Ianto had said it was possible, but after the millennia that had passed any of them would have quietly slept their way into the beyond.  They would have been lost, with no way to retrieve them.

But what if Agent Boe – Granddad Jack, before he’d become immortal – had somehow found a clue?  What if there were viable magicked dragon children out there, just waiting to be awakened and brought home?

“All right,” Arthur sighed.  “I suppose that would explain why Second Jones was taken…his current identity is as a known dragon expert.  But really, he would have just told your agent that he was barking up the wrong tree.  So, do we just wait and let him come home on his own, or are you going to tell us where your agent might have taken him?”

That was the point, and Merlin knew that Arthur knew it as well: that Grandtad would have done anything to save a dragon child, in egg or out.  His mate was well aware of the reasons for a baby to have been enshelled, and he also must have realised that Ianto would not have risked it if Agent Boe had, indeed, lucked into a dragon egg.  He would do whatever he could to get that child to safety.

Bayl was furious, judging from the red in his face.  They’d come into his office, told him that one of his agents had inadvertently kidnapped the Torchwood Dragon, and had practically debunked his plan to get them to leave the Agency alone.  Of course the man was in a rage!

Was it bad that Merlin was enjoying himself?  Sure, it was, with his Grandtad Ianto out there and a possible new sibling as well, and what made it horrifically funny was that his own Granddad Jack had been the one to get them involved. 

Time was a seriously ironic bitch.  And Merlin’s Dad would agree with him on that score.

“I’m certain my agent will return the…professor, as soon as he’s done with him,” Bayl snapped.  “Now, if you’re quite finished, I’d appreciate it if you left my office.  Now.”

“Yes, I think it’s time we left,” Arthur agreed, sounding amicable about the entire situation.  “Merlin, we have better things to do than to hang around here.”

“Sure we do,” Merlin answered, grinning.  “Like contacting the Imperial Council and letting them know that the Torchwood Dragon was kidnapped by the Time Agency.  I bet Council Leader Smith-Sullivan will get a kick out of one of her oldest friends being grabbed in the mens’ room of a Chinese restaurant in Old London by a Time Agent following a myth.”

“I’m quite sure she will,” Arthur said as Bayl went pale once more.  “Have a good day, Director Bayl.  I’m certain we’ll be speaking again soon.”

With that, Arthur spun on his heel and left the office, Merlin beside him.  Arthur’s hand went up and the two Knights who had been guarding the door – Gwaine and Leon – fell in behind them. 

Arthur didn’t speak until they were out in the hallway.  “You can bet Bayl’s going to be sending people after Boe and Grandtad now that he knows we’re onto him.  He’ll be wanting to clean up the mess that was made.”

Merlin shivered slightly.  That very thought had occurred to him as well, in the seconds before his mate had spoken.  “We still don’t know where they’ve gone,” he pointed out.

“I’m willing to bet Bayl doesn’t, either,” Arthur said.  “If Boe is anything like his future self, he’s going to be cagey about giving out too much information.  But I’m certain there are ways to trace him.”

Merlin chewed his lip.  “I don’t want to say anything else until we’re away from here,” he murmured. 

Arthur nodded once.  “All right.”  He spoke over his shoulder.   “Leon, I want you to recall all the Knights back to Hubworld. Gwaine, go with him.  Merlin and I are going on ahead.”

“Yes, Director,” the Knight’s Commander answered, and Merlin shook his head at Leon’s ability to make ‘Director’ sound exactly like ‘Sire’.

The Star Dragon and sorcerer stopped in the middle of the hallway, and the two Knights passed by them to follow Arthur’s orders.  Arthur lifted his wrist, baring the magically modified Vortex Manipulator that he wore.  “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Merlin agreed.  His vision went a bit golden as his magic came at his call, and he rested his hand on the wrist strap, activating the teleport.

 

**********

**_Hubworld, Gliese 851g_ **

****

The Time Agency faded out around them, and Arthur’s office appeared.  Merlin didn’t even have time to drop his grip on Arthur’s arm before his mate was saying, “Do you think you can find Grandtad with what we have to go on?”

“I think so.  See, the only place that these dragon eggs could exist was the past…if they actually are real.  Bayl seemed to think that one of them was.”  It had to be the past, there was no other explanation.  Earth had been overpopulated and overdeveloped for centuries, until the planet had become almost unlivable except in certain areas such as Ddraig Llyn and Avalon.  If there had been eggs hidden anywhere, they surely would have been found in all the upheaval. 

“Do you believe him?”

“I think _he_ believes it.  And let’s face it…Grandtad Ianto was passing himself off as an expert in dragon history in order to give that lecture.” It didn’t hurt that he had first-hand experience in his subject.  “Granddad – Agent Boe – would have wanted to find an expert to authenticate anything he found, one without perceived ties to the Star Dragons or to Torchwood.”

“You’re right, of course.”  Arthur smiled softly.  “Can you imagine it, if it’s true?  A baby dragon, one that doesn’t have parents or clan?  Grandtad would do anything to protect it.  It’s what he’s wished for nearly his entire existence.”

His mate was right.  Grandtad Ianto was perfectly happy with his large family, but there had always been that small part of him that was sad at being the last of the true dragons.  This would have been his dream come true, if a child had been located. 

 “We need to find him, Merlin.”

Merlin nodded.  He had work to do.

He sat down on the nearest chair, taking in a deep breath and letting it back out again.  Turning back time in the mens’ room has been child’s play compared to what he was about to do.

Timelines were tricky at best, and Merlin had been surfing them since he was a child.  But that had been while with his parents and around the TARDIS; this was different, and without help he would be running the risk of getting lost.   “You’ll anchor me?” he asked, looking up at his mate.

Arthur smiled.  “Try and stop me.”  He pulled up the second chair, and took Merlin’s hands in his own.

The sorcerer focused on Arthur’s warm calloused hands in his, closing his eyes.  His time sense flashed just behind his eyelids, golden sparkles not unlike his own, innate magic swirling and joining together in the familiar fog of the Vortex.

Merlin sank deeper into himself, following his link to the Time Vortex itself.  If Granddad Jack was an unbreakable stone amid the rushing river of Time, and Grandtad Ianto the mighty oak that anchored him, then Arthur was a golden spirit, stepping on the surface of the river as if it were the strongest permacrete.  This spirit-Arthur was tethered to the great tree by a slender yet strong thread, and he welcomed Merlin into the deep currents, his strength holding him tightly within the wild rush. 

Merlin’s own connection to the tree that was his Grandtad Ianto was more tenuous, but that was simply because they were not related by blood.  But he’d been adopted into the family almost from the moment he’d appeared at Arthur’s birth, calling the infant a prat without knowing what that fully meant.  His mate bond had only strengthened his connection.

His own connection to Time was through his father.  The Doctor was a being who could dance through Time without effort, but Merlin was grounded to reality through his mother, River Song.  Even though Mum had been born on the TARDIS and had had the ability to regenerate like Dad, she was much closer to human through Merlin’s grandparents, Amy Pond and Rory Williams.  He couldn’t search through the timelines as easily as his Dad could, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Dad had told him some of the things that he could sense and feel, and Merlin wasn’t certain that he would remain quite sane if he could do some of that.  But then he did have his magic, and that, coupled with his knowledge of Time, made him even more powerful than his Dad would ever be.

It was a frightening thought.  Merlin was man enough to admit it, and had done to anyone who would listen.  His Mum had simply said, “Good,” and then had kissed him on the forehead.

Merlin found the timeline he wanted, the one that had led to Grandtad Ianto being taken by Agent Boe.  He allowed himself to get slightly distracted by his younger Granddad’s timeline, seeing it crinkle and weave throughout the Vortex, and then located what he was looking for. 

He’d been correct; Grandtad Ianto had been taken into the far past.

Luckily, the time stream remained unchanged as it carried his Grandtad and the younger Time Agent back, which was a good thing as far as Merlin was concerned.  They didn’t want the timelines to become muddied, and it would if this was some sort of paradox in the making.  He peered closer…

And then suddenly pulled himself back so roughly that he nearly tugged Arthur out of his seat.

“What is it?” his mate asked as Merlin released his grip on Arthur’s hands.

“Grandtad is in danger,” the sorcerer gasped.  “We need to go now.”

 

**********

**_Circa 1000 CE_ **

**_Bavarian Alps_ **

****

The Vortex Manipulators that Merlin had tinkered with were only teleporters, magically enhanced for far greater distance with less use of power.  One could teleport from Earth to Hubworld in one jaunt, whereas using the transmat system meant several jumps and a spacecraft took nearly a week at best speed.

Merlin had removed the time travel function on purpose.  With his innate time sense he knew first-hand the dangers of tampering with timelines, and having that power was far too much temptation, especially for someone who had been reincarnated into so many different lives that Merlin had a laundry list of things he totally regretted and would have loved to have figured out a way to fix.

It was the foremost reason he wanted to shut down the Time Agency.  They’d become too corrupt, and it was only a matter of _when_ they’d decide to forego their own rules and start interfering…and not if. 

However, it took the sorcerer only five minutes to reintegrate the time travel controls into Arthur’s wrist strap. It took them longer to gather the few things they’d need together before their time jump.

The pair appeared within a snowy mountainscape, and the surroundings matched what Merlin had seen during his journey along the timestream.  The black cloak he’d put on over his street clothes snapped in the wind, but the chill did not bother him, thanks to his Time Lord physiognomy.

Arthur was unaffected as well, and his mate grabbed Merlin’s arm, pulling his attention away from the mountains and toward what looked like a battle royal going on down the valley a ways.  Merlin squinted, and he could make out several men attacking a very familiar dragon, who was holding one wing at an unnatural angle.

Merlin’s hearts went slightly out of synch when he realised it was his Grandtad Ianto.

A golden glow surrounded Arthur’s body, and within seconds he’d taken on his dragon form, red against the clean white of the snow.   A horrible, pain-filled cry from the green dragon had Merlin practically flying onto his mate’s back, and with a flexing of powerful muscles Arthur was airborne, his wings beating powerfully as they arched over the valley toward the fight below.

There were many times in their lives together that Merlin believed Arthur being a dragon in this reincarnation was one of the universe’s greatest ironies, considering his first life’s stance on magic until he’d figured out that magic wasn’t all bad.  But in this existence a dragon was what Arthur was literally born to be, and he knew his mate reveled in the unfettered freedom of flight. 

Merlin held himself low to his mate’s back, his eyes squinted against the freezing wind.  As they got closer, he saw someone dart out of the cave behind their Grandtad, using a sonic blaster on two of the three men attacking the injured green dragon.  He could feel his magic reacting to the danger, and Merlin sat upright, using his knees to keep himself on Arthur’s back.

He raised his hand, calling his power to him, as the last attacker aimed a strange weapon at Grandtad Ianto.  Merlin gasped as it was fired and he saw the horrific hook-like device unfurl from the end of it and fly toward the defenseless dragon.

Merlin didn’t even need to speak a spell in order to will away that deadly hook.

The green dragon looked up at him, and while Merlin couldn’t hear him over the wind he knew that the sound that must have come from his Grandtad’s mouth was a relieved one.  Then he collapsed onto his side, as his human companion used his blaster on the one with the terrible projectile weapon.

There was barely room on the ledge for both dragons, but Arthur managed to alight carefully, and Merlin slid off his back, not waiting for his mate to change shape before heading over to the injured other dragon.  He pulled the strap of his carrying bag over his head as he knelt beside his Grandtad.  “Next time Aunt Rowena asks you to give a lecture,” he murmured, rifling through his satchel for his dermal bonder, “just say no, all right?”

The dragon’s eyes opened slightly, and he smiled weakly.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“We need to get this wing looked at before you can even think about changing back,” Merlin went on.  “Luckily for you I’ve come prepared.”  He waved the found dermal bonder.  “I can put you to sleep –“

“No, it’s fine.”  Those pain-filled blue eyes closed.  “Just do what you can.”

“Did you find one?” Arthur asked, his voice calm yet with an underlying tone of fierce curiosity.

The dragon chuckled weakly.  “How do you feel about five new siblings?”

Merlin laughed.  He couldn’t help it.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

  **  
**

**_18 November 5101 (Earth Standard Date)_ **

**_Ddraig Llyn, Earth_ **

 

Ianto had slept for two full days after getting back from the past.

Having Merlin and Arthur come to the rescue had been like a dream, until Merlin had playfully berated him about accepting Rowena’s invitation.  It had become real then, and for the first time since his kidnapping he’d felt safe.  He’d let his grandson take care of his injured wing, until it was well enough for the dragon to change back into human form.

He couldn’t recall a lot of what happened after that.  He did know that Arthur had taken Jamison in hand, but he didn’t see the Time Agent again after they’d returned to their present.  Merlin had escorted Ianto back to Ddraig Llyn, where his mate was waiting; Jack had taken one look at him, and had helped him up to their room at the top of the house, where he’d promptly transformed back into his true form and had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When he finally awoke, Jack had kept him in their nest, and the dragon was happy just to curl up with his mate and luxuriate with him.  The short time he’d spent with the younger, mortal version of Jack had been jarring, but there was a part of him that was glad to have seen just how his mate had been in that time before the Doctor and Rose and immortality had changed him.  For a long time he’d considered those changes a taint, but he couldn’t argue with them now, having met Jamison and seeing for himself the greed that had motivated him to betray the Time Agency’s agenda.

The dragon hadn’t stayed awake for long, but when he finally awakened on the third day he felt more himself.  There was a dull throb in his shoulder and back from his injured wing, but at least Merlin’s dermal regenerator had made the process of healing so much faster.  He still remembered the times when he’d have to wait for days or weeks for injuries to heal, and he was very grateful for future techniques in medicine.

The next morning they were awakened by someone knocking on their door.  Jack got up and put his robe on – there were times when his mate had body issues while pregnant, despite Ianto telling him he was absolutely gorgeous – then answered the knock.  “Come in, boys,” he said, ushering Merlin and Arthur into the large room.

“How are you feeling?” Merlin asked, folding himself up and sitting on the floor next to the dragon’s head. 

“Much better,” he answered warmly.  “Although I have to ask what prompted you to bring a dermal bonder with you.”

His grandson shrugged.  “I happened to see the attack in the timestream, but I couldn’t make out how hurt anyone was, so I brought a little bit of everything.  You know my healing magic never has been all that good.”

It was a failing that Merlin really didn’t need to shoulder.  He was powerful, but not all-powerful, and any flaws were only there to showcase his basic humanity.  It didn’t matter how many times the dragon had told him that, he still felt bad when he wasn’t as good at something as he thought he should be.  “Thank you both,” he said sincerely.

Arthur sat down a bit more gracefully than his mate.  He wasn’t in his official Torchwood regalia; instead, he wore casual trousers and a long-sleeved shirt, and Excalibur was nowhere to be seen.  “You’re welcome,” he said.

Merlin rolled his eyes.  “No thanks are needed, and Arthur would have known that if he wasn’t such a dollophead.”

“I _did_ know that, _Mer_ lin,” Arthur snarked, giving as good as he got, “but it’s just polite to acknowledge it when someone is grateful to you for helping them.”

The dragon chuckled at their antics.  “I _am_ grateful.”

“So, what brings you boys here today?” Jack inquired, taking his usual place leaning against the dragon’s side.

“We came to talk to you about your younger self, Grandfather,” Arthur answered. 

“He might have kidnapped me, but in the end he did save me,” the dragon pointed out.  “I don’t feel right handing him back to the Time Agency for judgment.”

 “They have to, though,” Jack pointed out.  “Those two years it took me to find those eggs have to be erased.  That single act was what made me go rogue, and I eventually found the Doctor…and we know what happens then.”

The dragon sighed.  He knew that was true, but Jamison had come to his aid when he’d needed it, even if it had been motivated by greed, which he was certain that it had been in at least in part.  “You’re right, of course.”

“No, he’s not,” Merlin answered.

Jack frowned.  “What do you mean?”

“I mean, the moment I saw him closely I was able to make out his short-term personal timeline, and I realised that giving your younger self over to the Time Agency was what would change your past.”

“I don’t understand,” Jack protested.  “I have those two missing years!’

“Yes, you do,” Merlin answered.  “But it wasn’t the Time Agency who stole them from you.”  He took a deep breath, and Arthur put his hand on his shoulder in support.  “It was me.”

The dragon felt Jack stiffen against him.  “How is that possible?”

“I use my magic to take away those two years,” Merlin explained.  “In fact, I’ve already done it and sent Agent Boe on his way.”  He looked upset, and Arthur squeezed his shoulder tightly.  “Apparently though, when I removed the memories, I also took away his knowledge of magic and dragons.  Granddad, when you meet Grandtad in the past, you won’t recall anything about the Star Dragons.  It’s as if they won’t exist for you.”

Jack relaxed.  “That was the reason then?  The reason I didn’t believe in Ianto being a true dragon?”

“It was.  I know we talked about it, but it wasn’t until I’d met the man that I figured out it was me that did it.  If I’d known earlier a lot of upset could have been avoided.”

“I’d been so sure,” Jack murmured.  “I’d been so sure that something was seriously wrong…and it turns out that everything was as it should be.”  He looked at Merlin fondly.  “I’m so very sorry for what I’ve put you through, son,” he said.  “You were right all along.”

A faint blush painted the young man’s pale features.  “It’s fine, Granddad.”

“No, it isn’t.  But it will be.”

Arthur cleared his throat, breaking the unabashed emotionalism that had crept into the conversation.   “What about the eggs?  When are we going to hatch them?”

The dragon smiled.   “Well, we won’t hatch them per se, but Merlin’s magic ought to be able to release the children from their sleep.”  He couldn’t wait to have baby dragons in Ddraig Llyn once more.  The last one had been their son, Alun, who would turn three hundred and six at the beginning of the new year.  He’d been the last child the dragon had carried himself; Jack had had the three after Alun, including the one that Jack was presently pregnant with. 

Merlin nodded.  “I can remember the one time I hatched an egg, but Kilgharrah made it more of an act of being a Dragonlord than my personal magic.”

“He would,” the dragon rolled his eyes.  He’d met Kilgharrah, the co-called Great Dragon, once, and it had left an impression.  “I don’t think he would know a straight answer if it tapped him on the shoulder and introduced itself.”

The young sorcerer snorted.  “I don’t think I ever got one from him.  But anyway…I’m sure the Great Dragons will be a help.”

“We’ll want the entire family here for it,” Jack replied.  “It’ll be just like a birth, only no one is carrying these kids.”

The dragon turned to his mate.  “Should we wait until after our new one is born?”  He didn’t want to wait, but it would be up to Jack.  The last thing he wanted to do was to take away from their natural child’s arrival into the world.

Jack reached up and stroked along the dragon’s jaw, his fingers soft against the miniature scales there.  “Five or six children around at the same time…it hardly makes a difference.  Besides, I know you want this, Ianto.”

“But I don’t want anything detracting from the little one you’re carrying.”

“They won’t,” Jack grinned up at him.  “Although I never once thought that we’d be dealing with what amounts to sextuplets.  I didn’t know dragons could have entire litters!”

The dragon hmphed.   “We do not have litters, Jack Harkness.  We have a respectable one at a time –“

“Except for Rowena and Cadi!”

“All right, except for Rowena and Cadi.”  The dragon looked into his mate’s eyes.  “All right, as soon as we can get the family together, we’ll awaken the babies.”

“That should give me time to learn what I need to from the Great Dragons,” Merlin answered.   “We brought them all with us from Hubworld.  Arthur and I thought you’d feel better if they were close.”

“Thank you, I will.”

Arthur rose.   “Merlin and I have to get back to work.  We just wanted to let you both know about Agent Boe, and what we’ve done with him.   You needed to know that everything is on track.”

“Thanks, you two,” Jack said gratefully.  “You have no idea what a relief it is knowing that things are really happening the way they should.”

“We’re still keeping an eye on him,” Arthur admitted.  “But Merlin is certain things will work out the way they’re supposed to.”

“I am,” the sorcerer got to his feet as well.  “Time is doing what it normally does…chug away.”  He hugged both of his grandparents.  “I’ll be back in a couple of days to harass the Great Dragons.  They don’t appear to have gotten tired of my questions yet.”

The dragon laughed.  Merlin had been a precocious child, and the Great Dragons had enjoyed entertaining the child sorcerer with their stories.  He’d learnt a great deal from them, more than he really had from his own father.

The two young men gave their farewells, leaving the mates alone once more.  Jack snuggled into the dragon’s side, and he rested his head onto his leg, carefully stretching his wings as he settled into an even more comfortable position.  There was still a slight twinge, but on the whole his injured wing felt healed. 

“Our family just keeps getting bigger and bigger,”’ Jack mused, happiness evident in his voice.  “Did you ever think this would happen?”

“No,” the dragon admitted.  He cocked his head.  “I would have been content to spend eternity just with you.  Everything else is a blessing that at times I feel I don’t deserve.”

“You do, you know,” Jack answered. 

“As do you.”

The dragon soaked in the peace, knowing that once the rest of their family arrived things would be hectic. 

He looked forward to it.

 

***********

**_21 December 5101 (Earth Standard Date)_ **

**_Ddraig Llyn_ **

****

It was appropriate that everyone in the Harkness-Jones clan finally were able to gather together on the Winter Solstice.

Snow covered the ground, and Ianto took a deep breath of the cold air, tasting it as he had back in the past.  It wasn’t nearly as clean, but it carried with it the scent of stone and earth and water, and the burning pitch smell of the torches that had been set up around the village green. 

There had been a furor over the eggs from every member of the family, as well as the people who lived in the valley.  Ianto had glossed over the events, simply saying that it had been a rogue Time Agent who had kidnapped him and had led him to the lost children.  Jack had requested that his younger self be kept out of it, not wanting anyone to know about that part of Ianto’s ‘adventure’.  His mate had made the point that it really didn’t need to be broadcast to the family, and it would only cause feelings among the others that Jack really didn’t want to have to deal with.  Merlin and Arthur had agreed; of everyone else only Rowena had known the true events, and she’d agreed to keep them to herself. 

Ianto could tell that what Merlin had had to do to Jamison was telling on his grandson, and he’d done his best to make the young man feel better about erasing all of those memories.  After a couple of weeks of moping – and Arthur being concerned and overprotective – Jack had taken Merlin aside and sincerely thanked him for doing what he’d needed to do in order to protect the timelines.   Jack later told Ianto that Merlin had never thought he’d have to use his magic against a member of his own family, and that was what had truly bothered him. 

Of course, Anwyn hadn’t been happy about having to hear about her own Tad’s kidnapping from her mate.  Ianto’s ears still rang from her scolding, and when he’d tried to play it down she’d given him a pout worthy of her Dad.  That particular pout was undeniable in Jack; in Anwyn, it was just plain deadly.

The sun was setting over the peak of Pedair Dreigiau, bathing the snow-capped mountain with a fire-like light.  They hadn’t actually planned this for dusk; it just seemed that most of the family ceremonies they had were that time of the day, and Ianto had simply gone with the flow on the scheduling.  He glanced back at the house, smiling at the cheery lights that were glowing in all of the windows, including the large skylight in his and Jack’s nest.  Just peeking around the frames of the windows were evergreen boughs, making the place look even festive from the outside.  Ianto had been a bemused witness to the decorations, letting Anwyn and the twins take over for him when they’d complained one too many times about how he was placing the garlands.

It was best to stay out of the way of the elder Harkness-Jones ladies when holiday decorations were on the line.

A small stone altar had appeared in the centre of the green, and Ianto had a feeling that the Earth Dragon was responsible.  He could certainly sense the magic surrounding it when he and Jack had moved the eggs out of their sealed cases – wanting to keep them as protected as possible – to place them carefully into the shallow depressions that had been formed in the stone.  The eggs were standing upright within their cubbies, glittering in the torchlight.

People were beginning to gravitate toward the village green, the family first and foremost.  Everyone living within the valley was coming to the ceremony, so there was quite a crowd gathering to watch the reawakening of the five children.  Ianto’s heart was beginning to pound in excitement; he couldn’t wait to have five more dragons join their family. 

“It’s almost time,” Jack murmured from his side.  A calming hand rested on Ianto’s elbow, and he looked into his mate’s smiling face.  “It’s about to get exciting around here.”

“You’re not kidding,” Ianto snorted.  “Five baby dragons and then our next child?  We’re about to be driven insane!”

Jack laughed, hugging Ianto to him.  “And you’re looking forward to it.”

The dragon smiled softly, resting his hand on his mate’s distended belly.  “You know I am.”

The sound of singing began to echo around the valley, heralding the appearance of the four Great Dragons.  They faded into being on the fringes of the gathering crowd, their enormous forms casting shadows over the green. 

Merlin had spent several days with the Great Dragons, learning just what he needed to do in order to release the children from their shells.  Apparently Kilgharrah hadn’t been far wrong in what he’d explained to Merlin all those centuries ago, and Ianto knew the young man felt more than ready to do what needed to be done.

The singing increased as those of the Harkness-Jones family who had dragon forms transformed.  The four that Ianto had carried had been born as dragons: Rowena and Cadi, then Gareth and Alun, each in varying shades of blue, from aquamarine to rich blue to a blue-grey that matched Jack’s own scales. 

The children that Jack had carried had been born as human, and only three had gained their dragon forms when they’d proclaimed their matings.  Anwyn had become a sapphire-scaled beauty, and her mate, Gwaine, stood beside her, his arm looped around her neck.  Emlyn, one of their middle children, had silver-grey scales that no one seemed to know who in Ianto’s family they’d come from; and finally Sabrina, her emerald scales exactly like Ianto’s own. 

Their eldest son, Franklin, had yet to gain his own dragon form, and Ianto was beginning to despair that he would.  He’d not found his mate as yet, however he did have two children of his own who were lights in Ianto and Jack’s lives.  Morgan, Kaitlyn, and Pryce were also mate-less, however Pryce had brought a young woman with him, and Ianto had hopes that it might lead to something more. 

Arthur had also transformed, his red dragon form a changeling among the rest of the family.  Merlin stood with him, his normally animated features set into a solemn expression, and his blue eyes cloaked in the gold of his magic.  He held a staff in his hand, and Ianto wasn’t sure if it was to be used in the ceremony or if he was just using it to prop himself up.  He might look all right, but Ianto knew just how nervous the young sorcerer was.

Ianto was the last to change, and he made his way into the centre of the green, Jack beside him.  His mate couldn’t take his own dragon form this far along in his pregnancy, but he knew there was no way Jack wouldn’t be taking part in what was about to come. 

Merlin joined them in the circle, and the seriousness left his face to be replaced by a grin that threatened to split his cheeks.   “Let’s get this show on the road,” he greeted them. 

With that, he turned toward the five eggs.  He rested one hand on the closest egg, and spoke a single Word of Power, and then called the child forth with a single, ancient name. 

The singing of the Great Dragons rose in pitch around them.

The egg cracked.

The dragon’s heart leaped at the sight of the tiny red head as the baby emerged from the shell.  Jack’s gasp telegraphed his own awe at the miracle they were seeing.

 _“Name the child,”_ the Water Dragon’s voice commanded.

The dragon looked at Jack, and his mate grinned.  He reached forward to help the child free of the shell, and the tiny creature made a mewling sound at Jack’s touch.  It was calm, though, and Jack cradled it to his chest.  “James Harkness-Jones,” he answered, tickling the baby on the belly.  He wriggled sharply and Jack had to fight to keep him in his arms.   “Whoa, kiddo!” he laughed.  The little boy chirped at him, and the dragon’s heart melted at the soppy look on his mate’s face.

Jack reluctantly passed James to Franklin, who was waiting with a blanket to wrap around the baby dragon.  Merlin touched the next egg, and it also began to crack.

The next child awakened was a little green-scaled girl…Oswyn.

William was the third, a larger brown dragon who felt the need to climb all over Jack until he could be pried off by a laughing Kaitlyn. 

The fourth dragon was tiny, only about the size of Jack’s forearm, and a glittering gold.  Ianto couldn’t help but stare down at her as she rested against Jack’s chest, her green eyes blinking sleepily in the firelight.  “Robyn,” she was proclaimed, and he could tell she was going to be a particular favourite of Jack’s.

When the last dragon cracked its shell, Ianto found his breath taken away.

Its scales were as black as pitch, absorbing the light as if it were a living singularity.  Silver eyes stared up at Ianto as it shook off the last of the eggshell, and Jack carefully wrapped his hands around the tiny body, lifting it up.

 _“Name the child,”_ the Water Dragon prompted once more.

Jack looked into his dragon’s eyes, and smiled softly. “I name her Lisa Harkness-Jones,” he answered.

Ianto felt the tears in his eyes, and he couldn’t have loved his mate any more than he did in that moment.  He’d thought Lisa long forgotten, but it seemed as if his mate remembered her after all.  Poor tortured Lisa…now, Ianto would get a second chance with this little one, and he wouldn’t waste it.

 _“So shall it be,”_ the four Great Dragons intoned.

“So shall it be,” the gathered crowed echoed, their conjoined voices rising up into eternity.

Ianto changed back into his human form, wrapping his arms around his mate, careful not to disturb the small black dragon in Jack’s arms.  “So shall it be,” he murmured happily. 

This was his dream…this was his legacy. 

 

 

 


End file.
